Great cormorant in the snow

[Gene Herzberg]

Great cormorant, Quidi Vidi Lake St. John's Newfoundland

Sony Alpha 700, sigma 100-300 f4 lens, iso 400, 300 mm, f4, 1/1000 s

[Anita Rakestraw]

Looks good, Gene! Great detail on the back, and I love that snow environment! I think you could safely spot sharpen the facial details just a bit, esp. the eye.

[Alfred Forns]

Gene what a bg for a cormorant !!!! I had forgotten they live up there !!!!!!

I like the composition with the sloped snow Good head angle and great feel Might consider a little more room up front?

This is a tough exposing situation Did not mentioned the compensation or which method you used For snow you can spot meter on the snow an open up one and one half Should give you good results You got nice detail in the wing feathers but the neck and head are blocked Trying to open in Ps will lead to lots of noise and make things worse

[Gene Herzberg]

Thanks Alfred. I used matrix metering with +.7. Actually this time of year greaters are more much more common than double cresteds. The greaters have their white flank patch right now but it is only visible when in flight.

Gene

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Gene, excellent bg and composition.
Great shot.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Gene, I need to disagree with Alfred a bit here. I think if you went any lighter you would risk overexposed whites. My biggest complaint, however, is that while you may be Eager to Learn, this image and many of the others here are quite excellent; you are ready for Avian Wild & Free. I love this one. Great job of waiting for the head to turn a bit towards you for the over-the-shoulder pose.

later and love, artie