Loon feeding chick

[Charles Glatzer]

This image is copyrighted material as indicated, and is watermarked! Unauthorized use or reproduction for any reason is prohibited

MI '08

Yes, I have others with the entire adult loons body

We have spent six years acclimating the loons to our presence, while carefully studying and learning their behavior. Chicks only spend a short time riding atop the adults. There is no substitute for spending time a field with your subjects, and behavioral know-how can dramatically increase your wildlife imagery success. I am quite sure I have amassed one of the largest common loon portfolio's in existence mating, with chicks, calling, eating every conceivable item, flapping, feeding, territorial displays, flying, sleeping, and a host of spectacular loon activity uw are but a few of the behavioral aspects photographed. As far as I know there are not many loon images with pocupine quills in both feet.;)

I look forward to meeting a bunch of you on the lake in June.

ID Mark III, 500mm w/1.4x
Manual, manual -incident, 1/640 @ f/8, ISO 400
Post-production-ARC 5.0, CS4

See you where there is light, or at the computer

Best,

Chas

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great moment captured. I like the soft light, angle and mood.

Do you know how loons end up with porcupine quills in their feet?

[Charles Glatzer]

Great moment captured. I like the soft light, angle and mood.

Do you know how loons end up with porcupine quills in their feet?

DNR and I could only surmise the porcupine was trying to get to the eggs and the loon defended the nest with typical frantic behavior.

Best,

Chas

[Axel Hildebrandt]

DNR and I could only surmise the porcupine was trying to get to the eggs and the loon defended the nest with typical frantic behavior.

Best,

Chas

Thanks, that would make sense.

[Krijn Trimbos]

Hi Chas,

I love the shot. Excellent head/body and light angle lovely BG and awesome behavior captured. I understand your inclanation to zoom in on the behavior and your resulting decision to clip part of the tail of the adult loon but am curious as to how this looks with the tail included. Maybe this is my eyes getting worse but there seems to be a Gaussian Blur quality to the BG especially around the heads of the chick and the adult. Otherwise terrific, congrats!

[Charles Glatzer]

Hi Chas,

I love the shot. Excellent head/body and light angle lovely BG and awesome behavior captured. I understand your inclanation to zoom in on the behavior and your resulting decision to clip part of the tail of the adult loon but am curious as to how this looks with the tail included. Maybe this is my eyes getting worse but there seems to be a Gaussian Blur quality to the BG especially around the heads of the chick and the adult. Otherwise terrific, congrats!

Good eye. I noticed the slight diffusion/blooming/halation around the edge as well. As I did not apply any seperate masking for the subject, background, or noise reduction and I am not sure how it originated. It is in the RAW file as well.

Chas

[Dave Mills]

To my eye this is one strong image. It tells a wonderful story with beautiful light,backround, detail and exposure. In this case I personally don't mind the crop since it accentuates the interaction between the two subjects.

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely image, Chas. The soft focus look in intriguing. Any chance that there was a little condensation on the lens?

[Charles Glatzer]

I think it could have been the ghosting nonsense I would occasionally get with my Mark III. I could only contribute it to possibly ultrasonic vibration shaking the sensor cleaning glass, as this is a separate mechanism in front of the sensor. Never heard an official word from Canon on this, but it reared its head occasionally from users across the web. I do not think many even recognized the problem as being from the camera.

I have not seen this with my newer IDs Mark III bodies.

Best,

Chas