Red-Necked Grebe

[gail bisson]

Taken in June, 2018.
This grebe nest is located about 75 yards off a well-used dock.
The grebes are used to boat traffic and were not in the least stressed by our little boat.
The pair would call out occasionally to each other and I was able to capture this.
Canon 1 DX, 600mm and 1.4x
ISO 2000 SS 1/1000 f 6.3
Small cropof 15% so 85% FF and cloned out small leaf behind back.
Usual PP in LR and in CS5 NR to BG, levels and sharpened.
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

[John Whaley]

Wonderful image Gail. Amazing IQ given the large crop, with beautiful subtle light and creamy background. I like the open beak pose, direct eye contact with low pov and would have expected to find the busy foreground distracting but it works here.

[annmpacheco]

Hi Gail, sittin pretty for sure, the open beak puts this one over the top. BG has similar colors and compliments perfectly. IQ looks very good and the floating plant nest is interesting to look at. Well done

[gail bisson]

Wonderful image Gail. Amazing IQ given the large crop, with beautiful subtle light and creamy background. I like the open beak pose, direct eye contact with low pov and would have expected to find the busy foreground distracting but it works here.

Hi John,
I did not explain my crop well- This is 85% full frame so a small crop of 15%!
Thanks for commenting ,
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful image Gail I like the pose and the raise crest.
(I was a little surprised you needed NR at ISO 2000)

[Daniel Cadieux]

The calling pose, raised head feathers, and luscious BG all do it for me. Will you have the chance to revisit the site once the hicks are born?

[Alex Becker]

Lovely Gail. Sweet setting BG and i love the pose. Detail is nice and I like the birds placement in the frame. No nits from me, looks like it was a great trip. TFS

[Isaac Grant]

Hey Gail. Looks like you have been having some good times. This image is really pretty and I love the way the foliage surrounding the nest works with the water color. Details and calling pose are excellent. But I think your processing is off on this one. Shot looks like a typical 1dx file in lower light conditions. It is somewhat flat and there is a green/yellow cast to the shot. I also don't think the blacks are as deep as they should be on this species. I did a quick redo where I cropped off a bit from the left to lose that little plant on the extreme left. I removed the cast, deepened the tones of the bird, increased the blacks and added a bit of saturation as well to the reds. I also ran some NR to the background to lower the file size.

[gail bisson]

Thanks for the redo Isaac! I had originally cropped the image the way you did, but it felt a bit tight to my eye.
I redid my OP with your suggestions.Agree 100% with your tweaks.
Jonathan- I always do a bit of NR at anything above ISO 800. I like the way it smooths the BG out a bit.
Gail

[John Mack]

The foreground gives this image some nice depth. The background and calling pose on the bird are excellent.

[gail bisson]

Here is my redo! I tried the auto-tone.

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the open beak and the BG but the FG is a bit too busy and distracting for me. a higher POV would have significantly improved this frame

TFS

[Bill Dix]

Wonderful pose and BG. The open beak nails it. Both reposts help make it pop. Maybe a little too much saturation in Isaac's ??, but you were there. I like the effect with Auto Tone, which I've only recently started trying. It works nicely under some circumstances. But I also like the extra bit of NR in Isaac's RP. There is a little too much oof foreground for me, but being in a little boat a higher POV probably wasn't an option. All of the above notwithstanding, it's a great image I'd love to have.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, exquisite light here, and you have nailed the HA. Its always good to capture an open beak of any subject, it just takes the image up a few notches. I'm fine with busy nest, and even finer with the smooth upper BG.

[kevin Hice]

Hi Gail, Nice image nest and background colors compliment each other and having the bird call just adds to a superb image.