Horned grebe with chick...

[Geoff Newhouse]

This is a shot I liked of the horned grebe with one of it's "grebelets" as the little one was begging for some more food. Most of its siblings were already off on their own in the marsh but this one was still tagging along with the parent. You will notice that the adult is already starting its moult into winter plumage with the colours fading, the tufts gone and white starting to show on part of the head.

This was shot in available light, manual exposure, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 600 f/4 IS II + 2xTCIII (1200mm/1920mmFFequiv), f/8, 1/800, ISO 1000. Handheld but supported on a wire fence.

Comments and critiques always welcomed...

[stuart wanuck]

so cute

[Randy Stout]

Geoff:

Your long focal length has given you a nice low shooting perspective, the centered framing works with the birds positioned this way, well exposed.

In a perfect world, would prefer the head and bill not merge quite so much, but the interaction still works very well.

When will the adults fly out? Our adult loons leave in Oct, while the juvis hang around until almost ice in, building up their strength for the long trip south.

Cheers

Randy

[Bill Dix]

Lovely interaction, with great look from the grebelet. The little one is tack sharp; the head of the adult perhaps a bit less so.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Geoff, I like the 'begging' stare from the juvie, and I do like the various colours on the parent. Even though their plumage's are wet, your resulting IQ/detail is pretty good for that focal length. Well captured.

[William Dickson]

Great interaction here Geoff. I love the eye. Nice work.

Will

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent moment captured.

Regards,
Satish.

[Daniel Cadieux]

How cute is that! Lovely interaction, and as Randy mentions the central comp works well with the face-to-face poses. The adult seems a bit softer than the young one, so perhaps an additional round od judicious sharpening on its face would work well, at least for web. I would also reduce the saturation of the blues.

[Gerhard Weldhagen]

Very nice interaction captured here. A little bit of lens blur is visible, the 7Dii 's ISO can be pushed much more for faster SS without losing too much IQ. Well done on stabilising this rig on wire fence.

[arash_hazeghi]

I love the interaction but the image looks a bit soft to me and lacking in contrast, my guess is the RAW was a bit too soft here but the interaction element is great, I also wish there was no merge between the juvi and the adult