Dad riding tall - common loon Northern Michigan

[Randy Stout]

This fine fellow was captured 10 days ago as he patrolled his lake. Mom and the chicks were just out of the frame.

D500 600VR f/4.5 1/6400s ISO 1250 Shot from the bottom of my little boat, "LoonieToo"

Post: Added canvas bottom, right , left. Crop from top for comp. Selective sharpening.

Advice and comments always appreciated.

[Bill Dix]

A handsome fellow, and he knows it. Nice exposure to bring out that good velvety quality on the head without blowing the whites. If you added canvas right and left, he must have been practically inside the LoonieToo with you.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Oh I love this! The velvety texture of the head and neck feathers is so appealing. Great low angle. Seamless canvas extension. And a catchlight

[Isaac Grant]

I really need to get a boat and go shoot loons. These shots are making me drool. Very nice indeed. Details look good and I like the pose very much. Bird seems a bit tight in the frame to me (a problem I wish I had ) and also the whole frame seems a bit dark to me. You haven't mentioned the time you took this.

[David Salem]

As evident by the catch light, the head angle is lined up with the sun and the sensor perfectly and has created some awesome detail and texture to the fine head feathers. Very nice Randy

[Michael Thompson]

Sweet shot with the darks and whites exposed perfectly, that is not an easy thing with loons and the sun! Great pose, sharp and nice detail. Nice low angle too

[allanrube]

Just the right head turn. I like the processing a lot. Many of mine have too much contrast - like the soft feeling you got.

Since you use a Nikon as I do, I wonder if you turn on active d-lighting to help with the whites (if so is it on high?) Active D-lighting only works with the NX-D raw converter. I use LR and have trouble with the whites at times.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Issac: image taken at 6:26 AM. The brightness seems about right on my calibrated monitors, but tastes certainly do vary, and I tend a bit towards the less bright side.

Allan: I use Lightroom and Photoshop CC for most processing, only occ. looking at image in NX-D. Don't use Active D- lighting.

I set a very flat profile on my jpegs, so the LCD gives a bit better representation of the raw. This allows you to push the whites a bit more safely. The real secret of course is that I shoot from sunrise until about 8:30 AM only, unless it is a cloudy day or lots of haze. Even with cameras with pretty good dynamic range, loons can be a challenge in brighter light. Plus, I find the sun angle much more flattering with it low in the sky.

Plus, I shoot in Manual mode most of the time and monitor the blinkies constantly, often taking freq. shots just to check the white exposure, so that when a keeper shot occurs, I am ready. I will occ. use Aperture priority mode if the light is changing very rapidly, such as partly cloudy sky where it varies very quickly.

Part of the fun of loons, trying to meet the challenge of their dynamic range.

Cheers

Randy

[Isaac Grant]

thanks for the info. I tend to like brighter for my shots but would love a shot like this. Certainly there is zero wrong with how it was presented. Also fully agree about the time of day. Pretty much I put my camera away when the sun is up and it gets passed about 8:30. Take it out again a few hours before sundown.