Western Grebe

[Adhika Lie]

I am going through some old files and found this one from last year. Very slight crop from the UR corner for composition. I am kinda wishing for more canvas to the left to give some negative space but extending the canvas could be problematic with the ripples.

Let's see, I shot this with my old D90 which is pretty much useless to retain details after ISO 800. This is shot at 600mm, 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 500. Even at that ISO, the noise are noticeable. I used Nik Dfine to clean up the noise on the water and then applied some field blur on the water to tone it down a little bit more.

As always, looking forward to your C&C :)

[Glennie Passier]

Love this Adhika. You have already mentioned just a little more room on the LHS. I think a bloke with your talent could easily "fix" the ripples. I really like those little ripples in front of the bird. Do you think there could be a slight blue cast to his shadowy back on the LHS? I have learnt so much here Adhika, and casts are getting easier for me to pick because I tend to get a lot of them myself!

Great image!

[steve torna]

Hi Adhika, this is a very beautiful image, composition and I like the reflection. I wonder if you could bring up the exposure on his reflection?

[Adhika Lie]

Steve & Glennie, good suggestions! Really powerful ones. Here is a repost.

Glennie, I can't completely remove the blue cast without making it look weird. But you're right, the blue cast in the original was rather too strong. What do you think of this one?

[steve torna]

Hey Adhika, the changes look great, good job!

[Diane Miller]

Outstanding!! What an amazing reflection! Sharpness, detail, great composition -- it's all here. I might crop a little off the top in this case -- just short of halfway to the head -- to reduce the symmetry.

[Glennie Passier]

Well done Adhika! Very subtle changes look great!

[Sandy Witvoet]

Love the RP! At first, I didn't think the reflection needed a bump... but, WOW! A bit off the top... Perfect! Lovely image!

[Anthony Thompson]

I can't really add anything that already hasn't been said.. I prefer the 2nd with the adjustments to the reflection exposure. Great image... I wish it was one of mine...