Loon Neck stretch - Loon lighting project

[Randy Stout]

This is a companion shot to the loon I posted a few days ago. I rather liked the unusual pose, water color and background.

D700 500mm f/4 with TC14 ISO 1000 f/7.1 1/2500s Manual exposure pedestal mounted in my fishing boat.

Post : CS4 PS, curves, slight crop, selective sharpening I made this image a bit brighter than the previous one. slight rotation

Two small white dots to right of neck are water drops. I may remove them in future.

Advice always appreciated.

Randy

[Danny J Brown]

I like the reflection of the green bokeh on the water and the way the head melts into the brown portion of the background. The circular wave of the water looks nice too as do the contrast bands on the birds neck. I wish the eye had a tad more punch but a unique shot overall and pleasing to my eye.

DB

[Hendri Venter]

I like the unusual pose and the water colors. The contrasting colors also very nice. Lovely image Randy.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Cool pose, I also like the angle, calm water and sharpness. I'm not sure if including the entire reflection would add to it. If it were mine, I might raise the midtones a bit since some of the blacks are blocked and to get some more separation between head and BG.

[Randy Stout]

Axel:

Good point about the brightness. It seems very monitor dependent. Despite them all being calibrated, the image seemed to have brighter midtones on my NEC than on my iMac at work. I did the work on the NEC.

Here is a tweaked version with midtone adjustment.

I also must admit that I tend to like slightly darker images as a rule.

Cheers

Randy

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The repost looks much better on my 24'' ACD. According to the histogram the blacks are still partially blocked, I'm wondering if this is due to jpg conversion.

[Randy Stout]

Axel:

On the raw file, the file has a few blocked black pixels, on the tail of the bird.

Here is one more option. This one has the same background as the original, but with the bird selectively lightened.

Cheers

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The second repost looks good to me. I like the more dramatic lighting and lighter bird.

[Stu Bowie]

Randy, your final version takes the prize. I like the angled head, together with the Loon's colours. Sharp, and the complimentary colour of the water works well.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Randy, yes the final repost for me too. Really nice pose. loved the calmness in the water a lot. Its a winner.

About comp, I would have prefered with some room above and a little crop from bottom.

[Nico Steenberg]

Will also go for the last post. Great exposure and reflection. Like the pose and comp. Well done !

[James Salywoda]

Gorgeous image Randy nice low angle and pose.