Western Grebe and Smelt

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

I photographed this western grebe fishing in a cold & foggy early winter morning at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, CA. Since the water was much brighter than the bird, I dialed the exposure compensation to +1. The bird was better exposed, but I ended up with a blown out neck and loosing the shadow details on his head.:confused::confused:

40D & 400 f/5.6L, f/5.6, 1/500, IOS 800, Ex. Com +1

Thank you for viewing and would really appreiciate your comments.

Nate,:)

[Jay Gould]

Nate, I will let some else more knowledgeable comment on the "blown whites"; I will say that the capture is great, the water drops and overall image is sharp and you have presented the bird very well. I like it!

[Harshad Barve]

I will not commnet or critique
I am just enjoying such a wonderful image
Harshad

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the look-back pose, fish and sharpness. Good move on dialing in positive EC. I wish for a lower angle and would give it more room top and bottom.

[Randy Stout]

Nate:

Striking bird. I am not sure what software you are using for post, but if using Photoshop, I would go back to ACR and try the recovery slider, if not done already, to see if you can save the whites a bit. Can't work miracles, but helps.

I agree with Axel about the crop.

I don't know how much time you had while working with this bird, but in challenging lighting situations, esp. on black and white birds, I often try several different EC settings, just to give myself some options and material to work with. Checking histogram as you go, of course.

Cheers

Randy

[Doug Brown]

Excellent sharpness, DOF, and behavior captured. A lower angle would have been nice but that's not always possible at Bolsa. I suspect the whites could be recovered fairly easily with Lightroom or ACR. Another vote for more room at the top and bottom.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I just had another look and don't think anyone mentioned the sharpening halo, a little less sharpening would help and yes to recovering the whites.

[Stu Bowie]

Super sharp Nate, and I really like the droplets on him. The fish adds, and agree with the others regarding more space.

[David Fletcher]

Fabulous image with great appeal and impact! Agree with suggestions already made and suggest too, might be worth going back to the RAW and getting a copy deliberately underexposed to see if blending can fix the whites. (who knows? Common practice with landscapes, :)).

[Sinh Nhut Nguyen]

Thank you everyone for your comments.

I didn't really have a lot of time working with these guys as they were very shy. The reason I even got this shot was because I was the only one at the bridge on that date. These western grebes normally don't come or rise up near the bridge due to the activity of birdwatchers, photographers and joggers there. I managed to get 3 shots, 2 were blurry due to handholding the 400 at 1/500. Can't wait for these guys to come back to BC again :)

I agree with the cropping suggestion, I too think it's too tight.

I don't have ACR or Lightroom, which one would your recommend?