A sunfish meal

[Steve Foss]

This common loon (Gavia immer) is feeding its 7-day-old chick a small sunfish. Little Long Lake, Ely, Minn.

Canon 20D, Canon 100-400L IS at 400mm, iso400, 1/400 @ f8, (S/H, selective sharpening, selective noise ninja and selective gaussian blur in CS2) handheld leaning as far out and down from a boat as possible (about six inches off the surface of the water.)

[Fabs Forns]

Steve, nice family moment.
Is this a crop? Great DOF for f/8
I would sharpen the chicks eye a bit more. Good light and great timing.

It won't hurt to add your copyright to anything you post on the web!
Thanks for sharing :)

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, Fabs, I agree on the sharpening.

Unfortunately it is a crop. I've made excellent prints of this interpolating in CS2 out to 14 inches at 300 dpi, but I fear that's the limit with this one.

And on further evaluation, I think I went too far dropping down the highlights. The whites look a little too gray on my screen after mounting here.

[Maxis Gamez]

Hi Steve,

What a lovely intimate moment. The light, details and cropped works for me.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Hi Steve. These are such wonderful moments to be able to capture and you did a lovely job with the low angle, lighting and composition. The minor nit was mentioned but I would be happy to have this image in my files !! Fine job.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Excellent interaction and very cute. :) I think the suggestions cover most of it and you mentioned the grayish looking whites.

[Jim Neiger]

Nice capture, Steve! The interaction between the parent and chick is priceless with the fish being a bonus. Nits have been mentioned.

[Fabs Forns]

Thanks, Fabs, I agree on the sharpening.

Unfortunately it is a crop. I've made excellent prints of this interpolating in CS2 out to 14 inches at 300 dpi, but I fear that's the limit with this one.

And on further evaluation, I think I went too far dropping down the highlights. The whites look a little too gray on my screen after mounting here.

Steve, the reason I asked if it was a crop is because the DOF in this would never have been possible in a full frame.

Sometimes we need to crop and we need to be careful not to exceed the pixel limitations. This one doesn't look pixelated, just wanted to point out the DOF, once I read the techs.

[Steve Foss]

Steve, the reason I asked if it was a crop is because the DOF in this would never have been possible in a full frame...just wanted to point out the DOF, once I read the techs.

No prob there, Fabs. I figured that's what you were getting at. If it had been full frame, I definitely would have had to choose which face to focus on at f8. Why are there always tradeoffs? ;)