Common Loon feeding chick

[Richard Sleeman]

I was up in NE Michigan at the beginning of the week, after hearing of a report of Loons with chicks. Luckily we found them. The mornings were cool (50's) and mist was rising off the lake. It was harder than I thought to take some Loon/mist shots, from an exposure POV. The weather warmed up--it got cloudy/sunny. Very nice.

This shot was taken with a Canon 40D, 500mm/1.4xtender, 1/800 @ F8, ISO 500.No flash for the entire shoot, although, after reviewing the downloads, I wondered if it wouldn't have helped.

The expierience itself was magical. The loons came to trust me, sometimes after diving for food for the chick, surfacing right at the boat. I was tempted to reach out and touch the bird. It was just amazing to know that they knew we meant them no harm, and allowed themselves and the chick so close.

All comments are welcome. Especially those with exposure tips. These birds do present a challenge.

BTW, this is my first post. Even though I've been on two IPT's with Artie, I sometimes
lack his confidence. Thanks in advance.

Richard

[Stu Bowie]

Great parental interaction captured here Richard. I like the open beak of the chick anticipating his meal. I would maybe take a bit of both top and bottom. Well captured.

[Randy Stout]

Richard:

Congrats on your first post. Confidence will come, you just have to bite the bullet and decide to do jump in.

As I have mentioned before, I do love loons, and will be off in quest of them again soon.

I think the image can be improved a bit. I would crop up sig. from the bottom. Darken the water, sharpen the birds, work on the eye a bit, highlight recovery. I wish the adult wasn't clipped, and the head angle could be a bit more towards us on both birds.

You can help by posting the largest file (200kb) so we can see it better, better IQ, and esp. for any reposts, we have more to work with. As is, the IQ suffers from the small file.

Hopefully you have others in the series, we would love to see them!

Thanks for jumping in.

Randy

[Aidan Briggs]

Welcome to BPN!

Nice low angle and interaction.

Randy's repost is much better, though the image could use a bit of CW rotation.

Looking forward to more!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Welcome to BPN, Richard! Very nice first post. I like the interaction, angle and mood. Randy's pano crop works really well as it emphasizes the shape of the birds and feeding action. Keep them coming!

[Richard Sleeman]

Thanks all for the comments. Randy, I'm not sure what you mean by IQ? Did I get that right?

Thanks.

Richard

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Thanks all for the comments. Randy, I'm not sure what you mean by IQ? Did I get that right?

Thanks.

Richard

IQ - image quality

Here is a list of commonly used acronyms: http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=12681

[Ramon M. Casares]

Randy's repost looks just perfect IMO and has covered what I was going to say, darker image and BG, and pano crop.
Congratulatons on a fantastix image of a lovely natural moment!