"Blacklit" Common Loon.

[Daniel Cadieux]

This Common Loon was swimming by the edge of the forested shoreline, on opposite side of sun angle with no possibility for me to manoeuvre for better light angle. When it passed by a large area of dark shaded water I knew I may have something different to work with so I put on my "outside the box" thinking cap and created a series of in-camera backlit on black background images ("blacklit"). Most did not work out as envisioned, but this one stood out and was worth processing IMO.

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/1250s., f/7.1, ISO 400, natural light, handheld from paddle boat, cropped for comp after levelling the horizon (but wondering if it needs a tad more CCW rotation?), some smudged along the top cloned out, and an area near the tail end of the back darkened via burn tool.

[Mike Poole]

Beautiful shot Daniel, well done for spotting the potential and then realising it.

Got to love this digital era, it gives us so much flexibility in the way we shoot and the chances we take

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

I think this is very effective, the back lighting is handled well, whites on the breast perfect, like the rim lighting on the bill.

From a comp standpoint, I might take a sliver off the top, personal taste, but again, a very effective loon image!

Cheers

Randy

[William Dickson]

lovely

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Very nicely done Dan, good thinking & beautifully executed. I like the low angle, the pattern on the feathers & silhouette of the bill!

[Joseph Przybyla]

Striking image as is but looking at it I wished the light had been on the head also. It is the type of image that one keeps going back to.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Good thinking Dan a really interesting shot, I agree possibly a little anticlockwise rotation may help. Otherwise I think it is spot on.

[John Stuelpnagel]

Very artistic! I really like how the light bounces off the back to create the reflection. I too keep coming back to the image.

[Richard Flack]

Dan, I really like "different from the norm images" and this is definitely one of those. I love the mesmerizing whites and the reflection. Well done. If anything and what would make this image a real gem for me would be some sight of the bird's eye BUT given the bird's colouration this was not something you had control over. TFS

[Peter Scholer]

Different in a winning way. Love the mystery and the deep dark tones with patterns of white and greys to give form. Stirling capture. Well done.

[Barry Ekstrand]

Great image, excellent outcome, very unique. I really like the artistic feel, and I think the head being blacked out really adds to this composition - congratulations on a great result!

Barry

[Satish Ranadive]

Spectacular image, Daniel Sir.

Regards,
Satish.

[Joe Subolefsky]

WoW way to take something to take something common and twist it unique!