Photographed this Great Crested Grebe at a lake in a local park. We have a large number of Cootes on the lake this year and they have been very aggressively stealing and defending nest sites among themselves and from the GC Grebes. So, the Grebes don't seem to be having any breeding success this year, sadly.
This one was dozing most of the time but lifted its head to give me a "once over". Picked up a lot of highlights on the water in the background which were a devil to patch, clone and cover. Once you start, there is no end!!
EOS 1D MkIII with 500 f/4 and 1.4 extension.
1/320 sec at f/7.1 ISO 400 PP with LR2 and CS4.
I like the low angle, pose, raised crest and bg !!! Lost of detail in the feathers and sharp they are Would only like more detail in the white neck area, should be easy to select the by color and multiple Might take just a little form the top but definitely leave some of the lighter section !!! ... a little of the bottom would not look back either !!! Great feel and really like this image !!!
Agree with AL 100% - like this a lot - I too would crop some from the top.
Love the colours and the low shooting angle and the BG colours compliment the bird.
Looking forward to seeing more.
Thanks for the guidance and encouragement. I have done a multiply blend on the white and that seems to have added more detail - found I had to knock the opacity back to under 40%, but it worked. Also made minor crop changes as suggested.
Great Crested Grebe
