To Kodiak and Back!

[Arthur Morris]

After a fun day on Wednesday photographing Red-necked Grebes that came in to the tape, we awoke at 3:30am for our 6:15am flight to Kodiak on they way to Katmai.... We actually saw the ground through the fog when the pilot pulled up as he could not see the runway in front of the plane. We circled for 25 minutes and headed back to Anchorage (where I ran into Robert Royce in the airport). It is now 3:30pm and we are waiting for our long delayed second attempt but it is not looking good.

This Red-necked Grebe was photographed with the Canon 800mmmm f/5.6L IS lens, the 1.4X II TC, and the EOS-1D Mark III on the 3530 LS Gitzo tripod topped with a Mongoose M3.5. ISO 500. Evaluative metering +1 stop set manually: 1/400 sec. at f/8.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome. I am here to learn to. Bring on the bears!

[Brian Barcelos]

Mr. Morris, You make it all look so easy. I especially love all the water droplets on this guys face and back, and that stickleback sure looks tasty.

P.S. ABP II is awesome, I can't get off the monitor.
Brian

[Jim Fenton]

Arthur...

The bird id beautiful, I like the comp, but the stickleback (I assume it's a stickleback of some sort), the end of the bill and anything not in the plane of the crest and the area just below it looks soft to my eyes?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Good luck on your next attempt and I'm quite envious since I've never been to Alaska.

I like the angle and soft light in this one and agree with Jim that the bird's head and neck could need some additional sharpening.

[Aidan Briggs]

Nice comp, low angle, and a beautiful bird you captured here. Would agree on sharpening the neck and head, though the eye looks quite sharp to me.

[Ramon M. Casares]

I love the natural moment, the soft light is great, detail and colors are wonderfull and IMO it is tack sharp, the only thing I would've wanted is to have more room at the bottom. Congratulations!

[John Ippolito]

Lovely light, detail with water drops, and the stickleback. It also looks very sharp on my monitor. Very nice!
I had a feeling that it was you at Potter Marsh last evening (which is where I assume you captured the r n grebe) with a group of bird photographers. Good luck getting to Kodiak/Katmai-the weather has been a bit testy down that way. I'm headed-hopefully-to McNeal River/Mikfik creek next week.

[Jim Fenton]

Not sure what the rest ov you folks beside Axel and I are seeing, but on my two 24" LCD's and on my wifes laptop, the bill, prey, neck and back and much of the head are all soft, out of the plane of focus or whatever?

Are the "tack sharp" comments coming from CRT users or LCD users?

Just curious?

[John Ippolito]

Not sure what the rest ov you folks beside Axel and I are seeing, but on my two 24" LCD's and on my wifes laptop, the bill, prey, neck and back and much of the head are all soft, out of the plane of focus or whatever?

Are the "tack sharp" comments coming from CRT users or LCD users?

Just curious?

Jim,
I'm using calibrated LaCie 324 wide gammut LCD

[Ramon M. Casares]

Jim, the prey is not really sharp, but the head and body, in my LCD monitor at least, are perfectly sharp and IMO that is the priority.

[Kobus Tollig]

Great sharp shot. Really well done

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Artie,

Wonderful grebe, well caught with the prey. I would be tempted to give it a little more space on the right, to the front of the bird. Good luck getting to Katmai; warmest greetings to Chuck and Eric!

Gerald

[Stu Bowie]

I like the low angle, good light, and detail on the Grebe. With regards to the sharpness, aanother round wouldnt harm this. I like the droplets on the Grebe too.

[Kiran Poonacha]

beautiful one... only thing is I feel, its lightly out of focus.

[Arthur Morris]

Though I did some Eye doctor work, I checked out the RAW and the image is simply not focused sharply on the face or eye. The previous frame, with a different pose, is sharp, but this one is not. Thanks all for pointing it out. I will see if a contrast mask helps and be back in a bit.

[Arthur Morris]

Here is the original image with the face selectively sharpened. I think that it is improved to the point of being OK.

[Arthur Morris]

And here is the much sharper of the two that I kept. Added canvas bottom.