Western Grebe Portrait

[Michael Thompson]

The Western Grebes are back and getting ready for breeding here in central MN . I took this one while out on the lake in my little stupendous boat (sea eagle frameless pontoon boat) Unfortunately I did not find the cooperative birds early in the good light, by the time I got this one the sun was too bright, it was hard to not over do the whites without the blacks being too dark, but I really like the head position and eye contact so I kept this one. Canon 7Dll 100-400ll, 1.4lll, f8, 560mm, 640 iso, 1/3200, handheld.

[Daniel Grossi]

The Western Grebes are back and getting ready for breeding here in central MN . I took this one while out on the lake in my little stupendous boat (sea eagle frameless pontoon boat) Unfortunately I did not find the cooperative birds early in the good light, by the time I got this one the sun was too bright, it was hard to not over do the whites without the blacks being too dark, but I really like the head position and eye contact so I kept this one. Canon 7Dll 100-400ll, 1.4lll, f8, 560mm, 640 iso, 1/3200, handheld.

I agree with you on this being a keeper regardless of the imperfections. Wonderful pose and feeling here. A bit noisy, I'd revisit this in LR and see if you can improve the noise.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

I really like this image even though the light is bit harsh. I like the feather details on the bird and the red eye.

Thank you for sharing

[arash_hazeghi]

nice headshot Mike, you managed pretty well with both whites and blacks, I like the re eye too

[gail bisson]

This is really nice Micheal. Very nice strong composition.
A bit of noise on the chest near the waterline.
Gail

[Bill Dix]

How often has that happened? You go out in beautiful early morning light, just to wait for the good birds to show up after it becomes harsh. You did well under the circumstances. I love the comp and the eye is lovely. Ditto re the noise where Gail mentioned, and some NR on the BG could help too.