This loon was hatched on June 7 of this year on Damariscotta Lake, and I've been tracking it (and a sibling) through the summer and early fall. Juveniles have steel-gray scapulars and napes, with chalky white mandibles and underparts. All loons do an occasional out-of-the-water wing shake, sometimes as a distress signal, but sometimes just to shake off and clean wing feathers. At 14 weeks old, this juvenile is nearly as large as an adult. At two weeks old it was about 4" long, chocolate brown, pegging the cute-o-meter!
1DM3, 500 mm with 1.4X TC, ISO 640, f/5.6, 1/2500 sec, +0.3 EC. Fill flash would have helped fill in the shadows (late afternoon bright illumination) but my unit is currently being repaired.
If the loon was close enough then underexposing a bit instead and letting the flash do the rest would have been better as you mention (hope you get it back soon!!). Still very tough harsh lighting conditions to tame especially with a subject colored with both whites and darks. As presented it also looks washed out. On the plus side I like the pose, composition, and textures in the water.
Thanks, Daniel. Very helpful comments. I fiddled around with the Curves adjustment in the repost, it's more contrasty, more loss of details in the shadows, especially in underwings, but the breast feathers look a little less washed out. Guess I wasn't able to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. ;o) What do you think?
juvenile loon wing-shake
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