Great crested grebe (Courting)

[Jonathan Ashton]

I have modified the water colour and there is a crop to 3:2

OM-1 150-400
Focal Length (35 mm conversion) : 651.0mm
Exposure mode : Manual exposure
ISO : 2000
Exposure compensation : 0.0 EV
Shutter : 1/2000 sec
Aperture : F4.5

ACR/PSCC

[Colin Driscoll]

A lovely scene and interaction Jon. First impression is that there could be a bit more clarity so here goes...
And emphasise those lovely red eyes

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jon ... a very nice behavioral shot of these lovely Grebes .
Super composition with a super ratio
Not sure if I pushed you that far into the blue hour ??? I almost guess so ...
Will not go to deep into my critique in words , just look at my RP how I would try to portray the scene having my reply to previous posting in mind . Not saying that it has to look like that .
Details and sharpness quite superb !!
Not sure but think you have removed some stuff on LHS ???!!

Let me know what you think .

TFS Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Colin, thanks for making a repost, I think it looks very pleasing but to me it is beautiful as opposed to truthful. I really like what you have done but it is a stage too far from reality for me.

Andreas your version I feel is better than mine, when I made the modification I wondered if I had made the water too cold and blue. The crop I made was to straighten slightly and I felt the 3:2 presented the grebes better than 4:3 in this case.
I have attached a resized jpeg of the unprocessed original.

[Randy Stout]

Jon:

An outstanding capture of their interaction. As someone who takes a lot of waterfowl shots in all kinds of light, I embrace the variety in colors and lighting. I actually prefer the colors in the original. It appears the most 'natural' to me. Do I tinker with colors at times with my loons? Yes, but it is is easy to go too far.

Cheers

Randy