Eared Grebe

[wendell westfall]

D70s 70-200VR+2X@400 1/1000 f/5.6 ISO400 oEV Handheld

Here is my third grebe species posted in a week. I was fortunate to find them all the same morning four days ago. I had a couple pictures a bit sharper, but I thought this image with the stretched-out leg was more interesting.This picture is cropped and tweaked minimally in Lightroom. What do you think? Is it sharp enough? (I ran Lightroom's NR on the entire image).

Thanks,
Wendell

[Ray Rozema]

The oustreched leg is very strange. Focus looks good on the rear of the bird but the face is soft. water color is very good.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Wendell,agree with Ray regarding focus. The stretched out leg certainly carries interest. I like the rings in the water and would take a bit off the top...

[Bob Miller]

HI Wendall. Like the water ...agree with crop on the top....and the bird does look soft to me as well! NR looks good!

[Don Nelson]

The water rings are in focus around the bird, so its not focus in the feathers but oversharpening or noise reduction artifacts in the feathers that make it look "soft" -- probably from too much NR (I have made similar effects using Noiseware Pro while cranking up the controls to extreme conditions). There are also similar artifacts where the back of head/neck meet the water.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Wendell - would advise against running NR on the entire image (Except in certain circumstances) Looks like it has robbed the image of some IQ.
Pose is interesting - would probably crop some from the top and turn it into more of a pano feel.
Keep em coming :)