Red-necked grebe display

[Geoff Newhouse]

Not as fancy as the dancing of the Western Grebe but still fun to watch them swim around each other while calling out. Unfortunately, I followed 4 different nests this year and all 4 produced eggs but none of the eggs survived to hatching. Not sure what got them as one day they would be there sitting on the eggs and a day or so later the nest was empty and parents were either gone off the lake or out swimming by themselves.

This was shot handheld from my kayak with Canon 5DSR, Canon 300 f/2.8 IS II + 2xTCIII at f/5.6 1/1600 and ISO 640
Processed in LR with minor adjustments of contrast, saturation and then sharpening.

[Adhika Lie]

Beautiful, Geoff and that 5DSR does show its prowess with sharpness. I really like the interaction here and you catch both bird in the very good position. I do wish a slight more room all over but that's not always possible. In that case, I think the black lines on the UR corner can be cloned out.

[arash_hazeghi]

Lovely interaction Geoff, both birds are sharp and show great detail, and have a great HA on top of that I love the low angle too. I would get rid of the 45 degree line in the upper right corner of the frame and maybe blend in the purplish OOF vertical band behind the right grebe a bit. I like the comp as is since it concentrates on the interaction

TFS

[Jonathan Ashton]

Absolutely beautiful, great timing, my only criticisms are those already raised. Terrific image well done.

[Richard Flack]

What a stunning image Geoff, I love the interaction you have captured here! Awesome!

[Arthur Morris]

Super sharp and ditto what Arash said. And yes, a bit more room all around would have been nice. Do you have that?

a

[Ivan Ellison]

Super image. Love the low angle, super sharp, colour. Just about one of the best red necked grebe shots I have seen

[Geoff Newhouse]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.
Arash: I agree the vertical OOF purple band was what bugged me the most in this image. I hadn't noticed the diagonal one and will remove that one easily enough.
I'm not at home to check my RAW file but I know I did crop in a little. I will check and re-post a wider frame for those who suggested it. I have a feeling there might be some more distracting sticks in the area I cropped out.

[Bill Dix]

Great interaction, nice bg (with points noted above). Perfect HA's on both birds. I'm amazed you could get such sharp detail on both birds at 5.6.

[Marina Scarr]

This is one heck of a killer frame having the pair facing each other just perfectly with the calling pose. Agree on cleaning the upper right corner and would love to see a little more room all around as well.

[Ritesh Nangare]

Beautiful image with great combo and lovely details. The open beak pose added to much to the frame .... Love it totally.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gail bisson]

This is beautiful.
Excellent IQ. Agree with fixing that triangular area in RUC.
Well done Geoff,
Gail

[William Dickson]

Amazing image and IQ. Love the facial expressions. Very nice colours throughout.

Well done Geoff

Will

[Geoff Newhouse]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. Much appreciated.

[Mike Poole]

Beautiful interaction Geoff - as an entire species, Grebes must be up there with the most photogenic of birds.

All been said already, but once the upper right is amended, this is most definitely print worthy.

Mike

[Glenn Conlan]

You have a very special image, with excellent detail and subtle colors

[David Salem]

Awesome!!

[Frank Schauf]

Great scene and setting you have here.

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image.

Regards,
Satish.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Awesome sharpness, great composition. I love the catch light in the eyes.