Pied-billed Grebe

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

We have had floods in this area of the country in the last few months. This image was shot in some of these flood waters, and I might say no to attractive, but I like the image of the bird. What do you think?

Nikon D2X
2007:04:07 14:410
700mm
1050mm (in 35mm film)
1/50 sec, f/8
Mode: Av
Metering: Multi-segment
ISO: 100
White balance: Auto
Flash: Off
File size: 36.0MB
Image size: 2403 x 1735
Color space: sRGB
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Low
Contrast: Low
Color profile: sRGB

[Arthur Morris]

The bird is sharp and I like the pose and body angle but as you implied, the junk in the water takes a lot away from the artistic impact. 30 minutes of Patch Tool work would clean it up nicely. When I saw the light left/dark right in the JPEG I thought that the bird was attempting to climb up on the ice.

[John Chardine]

I think a lower angle would help. Other than that, nice. Agree that the water could/should be cleaned up. Not sure about others but I find this species to be very difficult to photograph. There's something about the eye and face that seem to defy obtaining ultimate sharpness.

[Wheeler McDougal Jr.]

Thanks Artie
I spent the 30 min to clean up the water and I think it really improves the end result. By the way I agree with you about the bird looking like it is crawling up on ice.
Thanks again.
Mac

[Arthur Morris]

Much, much better (and I got the time right!) There are a very few dark smudges behind the bird that you could smooth out by dragging them to a more even area.

[Tony Whitehead]

Great job on the repost, Mac.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Good repost. Looks much better than the earlier one.