Windblown and Beached

[dankearl]

These Western Grebes I photographed, unfortunately had been beached and were stressed and recovering from a big (80mph)
storm the previous day, as Grebes are not meant to walk on land. I took care not to get too close but even wave action did not
deter them from resting on the sand.
Beautiful birds!
1/800
f4.5
iso400
420mm

DSC_4488NX.jpg

[Daniel Cadieux]

Now that is a superb opportunity you were handed!!! Never seen a grebe out of the water like this. Great exposure and details, and the shell adds alot. Check out those "tripod" feet! Do you have any with a better HA? Did it make it back to the water?

[Brendan Dozier]

Great capture & comp, Dan! excellent IQ, love that ruby red eye and texture to wet feathers along the neck. Shell is a nice touch, and like the clean BG. Well done! Where was this?

[Dumay de Boulle]

Love the clean beach and the sea shell adds for my taste and I love the eye...HA not ideal, I would like t turned a bit more towards you.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent details and nice soft light, I also wish head was parallel to the back of the camera. I like the sand and the shell

[Jonathan Ashton]

What a powerful image that is - image quality is outstanding. A minor head turn would have improved what is a really remarkable image.

[Wynand van Wyk]

Ditto on head angle, but fine for me as long as the eye is visible. Great detail and background!

Well done.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

They are so beautiful I hope they made it back safely. Great low angle and view of thos stubby little legs and big feet . Did I mention great detail too?

[Bill Dix]

Unusual and very compelling Grebe shot. Wonderful detail, comp, soft BG. HA would have raised this fine shot yet another notch.

[dankearl]

Thanks for the comments, in this particular pose, I had photos from different angles, but no better HA.
In the shape they were in, they were in the mode of "if I don't look, he won't be there".
I will probably post some different poses with better HA in the future.
It was a fantastic photo opportunity although melancholy in watching them stressed as they were
with nothing I could really do about it.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Dan, great IQ. Eye really stands out because of the monochromatic BG. Sharpness, exposure and DOF are perfect.

Do you have more space on the right? I'd love to see more included there. The HA does not bother me much.

[Robert Holguin]

Great shot!! Great shooting angle, detail is excellent, head angle not a bother, and I really like the shell next to it.
Well done.

[denise ippolito]

Dan, Given the situation I'm glad you didn't press for a better head angle, it sounds like they were traumatized. Very beautiful bird with fine detail and clean beach. I feel more room on the right as Kaustubh mentioned may make a more powerful image. This is very appealing to me.