Double-crested cormorant

[Dennis Zaebst]

Taken this last week on Thursday the 24th at Ding Darling about 9:20 in the morning. Shortly after I took this shot, he shot off like a bullet under water and came up with a huge fish, which looked as large as his head and too big to swallow. But swallow it he did. Then he swam off non-chalantly as though to say..."Move on folks, nothing to see here." I've got a series of the bird swallowing the giant fish. Even though I have seen this before, I was amazed at what they can do.

Techs:
Canon 1D Mark IV, ISO 800;
500 mm f/4L IS;
1/3200 sec. @ f/8.
PP in LR 4.3

This was a substantial crop as the bird was too far out on the water for a closeup. Some shadows adjustment, sharpening, and NR.

C/C always welcome and appreciated.

[Charles Daigle]

Very nice image Dennis,

The head of the bird looks just a TAD soft on my monitor. Very nice composition and I really like the reflection.

Charles

[Grace Scalzo]

Head and eye do look a bit soft and I'd trim from the bottom. Love the droplets on his back. I look forward to more of your series.

[dankearl]

I like the reflection almost better than the bird!
The water is very nice and the Cormorant looks great.
Attractive color and very sharp.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Dennis,

Nice composition. Thanks for sharing the story with us, it's always interesting to see these guys swallow something that we believe is too big for them!

It looks like the focus isn't on the head, as it appears to be quite soft. I might consider cropping a bit off the bottom and adding it to the top (getting rid of the double beak reflection)

Miguel

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Dennis - nice comp, beautiful smooth water and the light looks good. I think the large crop has hurt the IQ and contributed to the image being a little softer than your other posts. Looks like you had a nice trip to Ding Darling.

TFS,
Rachel

[Mark Jones]

Hi Dennis,

Just for argument's sake, I'd love to see this one as a vertical portrait that includes the entire reflection. I've tried photographing cormorants a few times in the past and even with my AF on the eye, I still find it hard to get that crisp detail all the time. Great lighting on a great subject.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I agree with cropping a bit from bottom, and yes about the head being soft...sharpening it more would work well for web presentation or smaller prints. I also find the dark patch behind the head unfortunate. I love the incoming pose and the smooth wavy texture to the water. That must have been quite a sight!!

[Dennis Zaebst]

Thanks everyone for the helpful and kind comments. I'm working on it some more and will try a repost.

Daniel, are you speaking of the dark patch in the water, or on the head of the bird to the left side?

[Dennis Zaebst]

Made a few adjustments: backed way off on overall sharpness, and added additional sharpening to the head and neck only; additional NR on BG, and softened the black spot on the water. Wondering if this is any better? Agree that the large crop has affected IQ to some extent. I also cropped a little more from the bottom, and a little bit more from the left to get the bird's body and head off center.

Thank you for the help!