Common Loon

[Dave Leroy]

Caught this fellow having a snack. You can still see a bit of bulge in throat as he swallows the fish. Not sure if the last pass of Denoise made bird too "smooth"? Taken off Point Roberts, Wa. 50d, 400mm at f/8, 1/500, EC +1, ISO 400. Dave

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Dave,
I like the composition and capture...you have good details and good color rendition. the head angle and eye contact are dead on...Suggestion: I would crop this into a pano since the subject is dead center in frame...a pano crop would also place more attention, and focus in on the bird...congats...well done...:cool:

[denise ippolito]

Dave, nice shot agree w/ pano crop. When you run NR you should QM the bird so the NR doesn't go on bird and make it soft.

[Nonda Surratt]

Nice capture Dave.. Agree with Denise on the NR, looks like some feather detail got smoothed over.

Would crop a bit off the bottom. (pano) and maybe add a bit to the right side, bird seems a bit tight to me.

Very cool to have Loons around

[Lance Peters]

Hi Dave - cool bird, your exposure looks good, it does appear that the NR has smoothed some of the feather details out.
Agree about the pano crop and adding a touch more canvas.
Robert O'Toole has a very good instructional CD on quick Masks.
Looking forward to more :)

[Alfred Forns]

Agree with comments !! Remember to give some space to the birds .... about 80% in frame seems to be a good rule of thumb unless you have action and want to have more up front !!! Good looking bird !!!

[Dave Leroy]

Thanks Everyone. Composition and sharpening seem to be real feel things don't they. Trial and error and learn by doing. Yes, thanks Lance for the tip. I actually have that cd and have progressed through some of the items but not all. Need to finish that and BAA II. Too much fun taking photos!
Dave

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Great eye contact and very well exposed. Techs covered by previous comments.