Loon with chick

[Keith Carver]

This loon chick was in the water within just a few minutes of hatch on Damariscotta Lake, Maine. Photo was taken about a day after hatch, about an hour after sunrise. Chick slips under parent's wing for rest or protection from storms.

Techs: Canon 7D, 500 mm f4, 1.4xTC, ISO 400, f/9, 1/250 sec, -1 EV (to prevent burning breast feathers), tripod on flat-bottom boat. Post: NR, then USM: 125/0.2/0.

C&C appreciated.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

This is my dream Keith to see the loons with their babies. Congratulations on a beautiful image with beautiful lighting and excellent poses on the baby and mother. Love the colors of the water and the low angle and my only thoughts would perhaps be a tad more USM on the loons. Wish this were mine :)

[Michael Stern]

Keith,
What an excellent photo...a pleasure to look at!! I with Judy...wish it were mine!
Mike

[Daniel Cadieux]

Beautiful scene, and lovely colours throughout. I would perhaps selectively desaturate the blue and cyan channels. I'm sure your image is quite sharp - but here it seems to suffer from jpeg compression artefatcs (mostly apparent along the conntours of the loons).

[Phil Ertel]

Hi Keith,

I have to agree that this a lovely scene with pleasing colors. I also like the pose of the chick and adult. Other than the Judy's and Daniel's comments my only thought is taking some off the bottom to more the bird down in the frame. Just my preference as your presentation with the hint of the reflection also works.

Thanks for sharing.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the angle, eye contact and the chick certainly adds to it. Another vote for more sharpening. I have to go there sometime.

[Randy Stout]

Keith:

Very nice, with good comments above. I like the opposing head directions, color palette and exposure. You could consider a linear burn on the breast to bring out a bit more of the detail there.

I do agree about a modest crop from the bottom, just shy of the top of the reflected head.

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers

Randy

[Ofer Levy]

Very nice!! I like the composition but agree with some more sharpening especially on the baby.

[Andrew Merwin]

Lovely image. I like everything about it & agree that it needs a wee bit more sharpening.

[Keith Carver]

Thanks for all the suggestions. In the repost, I have selectively increased sharpening on chick and head/chest of parent, have decreased saturation in blues and cyans, have cropped out some of bottom but leaving reflection, and applied linear burn (45% opacity) to chest feathers. It appears on my screen that the JPEG compression artifacts have been reduced.

Would appreciate your comments on the repost.

[Andrew Merwin]

A good job on the repost. I do like it better. It is a lovely pose in both the adult & chick.

[Harshad Barve]

beautiful image and repost looks better
TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

The repost looks better as far as image quality goes (no sign of compression artefacts). I could go sharper even more, but looks good anyhow. I prefer the original comp as it felt perfectly balaced to me with enough room below the head's reflection.

[Keith Carver]

The repost looks better as far as image quality goes (no sign of compression artefacts). I could go sharper even more, but looks good anyhow. I prefer the original comp as it felt perfectly balaced to me with enough room below the head's reflection.

Thanks Daniel, I will take another look at original and repost composition.