Pied-billed Grebe... breeding colors

I was photographing a Tri-colored Heron dip fishing when this grebe surfaced in front of me. I quickly captured a few images. Images captured at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED, image captured at 400mm
1/2000 F/7.1 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 900 Auto 1 WB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2019 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped for composition and presentation

P.S. Learn more about Circle B Bar Reserve in the BAA Middle Florida Photography Site Guide that Artie and I co-wrote. It is available on the Birds As Art Online Store.

Hi Joe, nice frame..I like the detail you captured. Nice pose and reflection. It looks a wee bit bright here, may try lowering the highlights.

Will

I would have moved the subject off the center a little.

In my opinion Selective burning would help the image

I can see another version in vertical orientation.

TFS

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Krishna Prasad kotti

I would have moved the subject off the center a little.

In my opinion Selective burning would help the image

I can see another version in vertical orientation.

TFS

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Hi Krishna, thank you for viewing and commenting. As always I moved the bird around before deciding on where to place it in the frame. I chose this composition to preserve/not cut the concentric subtle ripples around the bird. Regarding you suggestion of selective burning, after reading it I visited the image checking the RBG values in the bright areas. The lower bill averages 93.4% or 238 which is reasonable for the white area. If the bill had more detail rather than being smooth I might have gone lower and also reduced the highlights. The next brightest area is the patch on the neck. The brightest area is about 80% or 204 well below clipping. Maybe there is more detail there but those feathers are wet from the bird surfacing just before capturing the image. I had in post processing burned that area with the Adjustment Brush in Lightroom but quickly those areas began to go gray so I deleted it. Also in the forum viewing images displays/monitors differ, so the image may be shown brighter or darker depending on the quality of the screen and how it is profiled. I profile my Eizo screen to 120cd, 6500K, and 2.2 gamma. I am not sure if everyone uses those settings. Anyways, thanks for viewing and commenting, I truly appreciate your comments and suggestions.

Hi Joe,

Lovely capture of this small beauty. Like the look on his face as he realizes you are right in front of him. Beads of water on his back a plus.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

Lovely shot Jo, I too would have been considering ideal composition trying to work out which shows the subject to best advantage.
Hope you don't mind but I attach an edit for your consideration, I have adjusted the luminosity on the bill slightly WDYT?

Love the still water. The alert pose is great as well. Details look quite nice.