eared grebe with first hint of summer plumage

[Allen Hirsch]

We've had rainstorms for 4 or 5 days straight, so the waters were rough and off-color when I finally got out to shoot Sunday, between storms.

First time I've seen the start of summer plumage on one of these guys.




50D + 500L f4.5 + 1.4x non-reporting on tripod & Wimberley II. ISO 800, f5.6, 1/1250 ss. pp in Lightroom, straightened, cropped, head sharpened, distracting dark spots in water cloned out.

[Paul Guris]

The shot is really nice, but I think it's focused just a little too far back. The details of the head plumage are not as crisp as the details on the sides and the breast is very soft. With a SS of 1/1250, I think it might have helped to stop down from f/5.6.

I like the crop, but I might tighten it up a little on the bottom. I'd also like to see it in a horizontal crop since it would bring out more of the in focus reflective water you captured that I find very attractive.

[Julie Kenward]

Good critique by Paul...I also think a horizontal crop would be stronger but it's personal preference for the most part. I'm wondering, though, with the overcast skies, if you don't have a bit of a blue/purple cast on the darker feathers? I rarely see this bird so it's hard for me to say but you might adjust the blues down a notch and see if you get a truer gray.

Love that red eye!!! Nice HA and, yes, with the body coming right at you like that, stopping down to maybe f7 or 8 might have captured a little more depth. Overall worth going out for. You might try a little selective sharpening or some high pass filter magic on the breast area to see if you can coax out a little more detail.

[Allen Hirsch]

Thanks for the feedback, Paul & Jules.

I have a couple other images from the same series, but different poses, where I can see a little better sharpness/focus on the head & the plumage I wanted to emphasize. I'll also play with this one for more breast & head detail, horizontal crop instead of vertical, and double-check color cast.

Not sure how I ended up so close to wide open - I know I was shooting manually at f7.1-8 earlier, but at some point I must have lost some light and instead of keeping that aperture and slowing the shutter speed, I must have just opened the aperture, and didn't adjust it, but ss instead when the light returned. (note to self: pay attention to DOF!)

[John Chardine]

Hi Allen- I agree with the horizontal crop. The reflection is not strong enough to keep. Love the eye, which seems sharp to me. There is a bit of softness to some parts of the image though. Not sure of any more sharpening will work.