The big drip

[Randy Stout]

This nice adult loon was imaged on a northern Michigan lake from a boat.

D700
500mm f/4 AFS I
f/7.1
1/2000
Manual exp
ISO 2800

I thought this was an interesting test of the D700s high ISO performance. High shutter speed, moderate aperture,

10% crop for composition

Any comments appreciated, esp. re: composition

Cheers

Randy

[Ramon M. Casares]

Hi, compo looks good, I would've loved to have the budy uncut, but as presented looks nice, light angle is not ideal and seems a bit harsh, but that water drops are just great and a huge plus! Congratulations!

[Randy Stout]

Thanks Ramon:

I have part of the back in the original, but not the entire body, and felt it did not add to the main subject which was the head and drip.

I actually like the light angle as it gives extra definition to the neck and to my eye adds to the 3D effect.

I appreciate your input!

Randy

[Ramon M. Casares]

Randy I ment that I would've liked to see uncut the lower part of the body as this crop really works very good!

[Randy Stout]

Ramon:

Thanks for the clarification. I agree, it would be stronger if I had the lower part of the body.

Cheers

Randy

[Grady Weed]

Randy,

May I ask if any work was done to the background? It looks a tad blurred in front of the beak, softening the bill and eye area.

[Randy Stout]

Grady:

No post processing except a slight curves adjustment and crop. I see what you mean, but I think it was just a trick of the light/reflections from water and Bokeh of lens.

Randy

[Linda Robbins]

Randy, I would agree that more room below would have been good, otherwise the composition is good. I like the head angle and the wate drop. The image is too light overall and the whites are burned. If you reconvert the raw file darker, I think the image will be greatly improved.

[Randy Stout]

Linda:

thanks for the input. I have played with this one quite a bit, and although I personally like the slightly darker image, I wasn't sure others would feel the same. I will see about a darker repost. Thanks so much for the input.

Randy

[Randy Stout]

Linda mentioned that the original was too bright. I reset the black point, made a curves adjustment and made a slight USM adjustment.

Let me know what you think, compared to the original.

Thanks

Randy