Misty morning backlit loon

[Randy Stout]

Taken in Northern Michigan earlier this month. So misty when I put the boat in the water I could barely see to navigate, but I know this lake well, and found one of the adults quickly. They were cruising through the mist, and as the sun started to burn through the mist, it provided some isolated backlighting of the loon.

Z9. 600VR. f/5.6 1/800s ISO 3200. Pedestal mounted on the bottom of my loon boat

Post: LRCC and PS. Denoise . Modest crop.

Advice and comments always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[Dorian Anderson]

This is a fantastic portrait, Randy. This bird is a nightmare exposure, and I don't you could have done better than this. Low angle and bow wave are awesome, and the water drops on the head are the icing on the cake. The tiny bit of white on the bird's right hand side (our left) might be a bit hot, but otherwise everything looks good!

[Andreas Liedmann]

hi Randy .... agree with Dorian a nightmare on the exposure front and you did quite well .
framing is nice and the head turn is cool , as ist the bow .
to me the wb is slightly off and all the dark tones are a bit flat , imho . looks like shadow lifting on steroids ... resulting in that flat look .

tfs Andreas

[Randy Stout]

Thanks guys, appreciate your opinion and input. I agree that the color balance has a bit of a red hue. The original did not.
I did lift the shadows to try and show more detail , but in retrospect lost too much contrast, giving it the slightly flat look.
I broke my own rule of always revisiting an image a day later before posting, to be sure I haven't fallen down a processing rabbit hole. Learned that one long ago.

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

Fantastic details, and the backlighting works well. The bow wave is spectacular. Small tweaks suggested would help, but loving it a lot!

[Ramon Reyes]

Randy, these Loons images is one of the reason I frequent this side every summer.
You do justice to this iconic bird, beautifully done.

Ramon

[Randy Stout]

Thanks Daniel and Ramon. The loons keep me coming back for more. Such big personalities ( plus they are sharp dressers too!)

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Randy, love the image. The closeup view is wonderful, lighting adds drama, bow wake really shown nicely. Thank you for sharing.