eared grebe in summer plumage
Stalked the eared grebes at Lake Merritt the last day and a half for better, more even light, as several diving there now have full summer eared plumage. My first "keeper" in summer plumage.
First use of fill flash; 50D + 500L f4.5 + 1.4x + tripod & Wimberley II. ISO 1000, f9, 1/250.
(f9 was a user mistake; must have bumped the dial without noticing, so ISO could have been lower...oh well.) Cloned out some non-blue reflections and specular highlights, minor crop.
Allen, this is really nice. You can see how the quality of the light brings out the detail in the feathers. I love these grebes, they really get wild-looking in the peak of the breeding season.
I like your low angle and would like to see an even lower angle. I don't think the pano crop adds to this image, and I would prefer to see a little more on the top and the bottom if you have it. I would selectively boost the saturation for blue to bring out the color of the water a bit more. Very nice capture, love the water drops.
"It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson
Please visit me on the web at http://kerryperkinsphotography.com
Thanks, Kerry.
Lower angle wasn't possible - seawall is well above the water level where this subject was.
I have added some to top and bottom and reduced the sides, and it does look better as less of a pano:
Nice corrections Allen. The image is very nice although to me the HA looks just a bit off. His beak seems just past being parallel to the camera sensor so waiting for him to make a quick adjustment next time would make this an even stronger image.
I really like the water now and the bit of red next to that red eye is beautiful. You really did a nice job on exposure here.
You're right about the HA, Jules, but I wanted and like this one more for the head plumage than the perfect eye contact.
These little dudes dive so quick and move fast enough that waiting for a head turn is usually fruitless, in my experience. Still, I'm nearly always whispering to them to "turn this way" when I've got my finger on the shutter...
Allen - HA aside, the repost really takes this up a notch.
TFS,
Rachel
I like it. Nice and sharp, great colours. Although the head angle is not text-book I think it works here.
Posting Permissions
