Eared Grebe in flight

[Rick Bowers]

Eared Grebe - Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, California, United States - May

I seldom see grebes of any species flying so it was fun to capture one in flight. While visiting Lower Klamath there were thousands of Eared Grebes using narrow water impoundments along the road. As we drove around the refuge, the grebes would flush and fly along these impoundments next to the truck. For some reason they would not leave the narrow impoundments and fly into the much larger ponds just a few feet over the dike, but instead remained in the narrow impoundments. Capturing this image was a team effort. My friend Jerry Schudda drove while I stuck the 500 out the window and shot.

1D IV, 500 + 1.4, 1/1250 sec; f/5.6; ISO 500, handheld

[Diane Miller]

Fantastic! But the red eye looks really blown out. If you're using LR / ACR, did you check the various Camera Calibration choices? I find the default Adobe Standard really blows out reds and yellows.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Fine image , but I agree about the eye.

[Satish Ranadive]

Superb flight pose captured. Love the wing position,colors, red eye and composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Shawn Zierman]

Remarkable image for what it shows...there are very images of this species in flight and even fewer that are managed this well. I think it's a rippin sharp shot of this bird in flight. Look at those feet! I think the image could benefit from some subtle noise reduction to the bg and fg...surprised there is as much noise as there is with a 1dIV at iso500....

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice and sharp, well exposed and composed. Love the view of the feet. For web posting I'd consider darkening the pupil (or enlarging it a tad) just to make it more visible (I'm sure it's OK as is viewed larger). Some NR to the BG would be good, and I'd consider eliminating the small white speck behind the subject (I assume it is a awter drop but it does not add to the image in this case).

Well done on taking advantage of the opportunity and working to get it...

[Marina Scarr]

Killer opportunity and you handled it well. Lovely light. Water drop works for me. Seeing some noise in the BG which is an easy fix.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent capture of a bird hardly ever seen posted, especially in flight.
The shooting angle is a bit off but I still wish very much if it were mine.

[David Salem]

I think this a great capture and I love the look at those huge diving feet as it flies by. The red eye is ok with me because the actually are that red. Very nice BIF!

[Bill Dix]

Great detail, exposure, and those feet. Well planned and executed. The red eye is probably realistic, but Daniel's suggestion might be worth trying. I could imagine a tad more room in front of him and less behind. ( I wonder if it would slightly mitigate the feeling that he is getting past you.)