Summer Loon

[Grady Weed]

Canon EOS 5D, Shooting Date/Time 8/13/2007 19:208, 1/200Sec. Av(Aperture Value) F8.0, Evaluative metering, Exposure Compensation 0, ISO 400, Lens EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM +2.0x, Focal Length 600.0 mm. From the Kayak and hand held.

In August the lakes and ponds fill up with loud boaters, so you have to work real hard to get close to the Loons. It takes a lot of patience, the babies are swimming by now and they can be very protective of them. Nothing like an angry loon to make a lot of noise and embarrass you and scare you have to death or drop your expensive rig in the drink! Thankfully I've never done either of those things.

I will be using the MK2n with the 300 2.8 and the Kayak soon. Yippee for spring and the loons!

ADDED: Alfred brings up a good point. Light! As they evening progressed the last bit of light was fading and this loon headed for the brighter open part of the pond. He looked me over then laughed his plaintive cry, and swam away! Yes Alfred, riders are on the list!

[Alfred Forns]

HI Grady Great rig for shooting from a Kayak !!!

Light is coming form the left making part of the back darker These guys need just about perfect light and light angle Do like the head turn and low angle Good luck !!! Hope you capture one with a rider !!!!

[Daniel Cadieux]

I wish the head was turned just a bit more, and the eye needs working (the pupil is nearly lost here). I can relate about the boaters...

[Robert O'Toole]

Hi Grady,

Nice image, Alfred made a good point of course about the light angle.

You should try just a light application of USM to the eye and the bill. It would give the eye a little spark.

Robert

[Yves Matteau]

Hi Grady,

Nice image, Alfred made a good point of course about the light angle.

You should try just a light application of USM to the eye and the bill. It would give the eye a little spark.

Robert

I saw many times in this forum to use "USM" ....For a beginner as i am, what does it mean and how to use it ....by exemple on this picture???

[Linda Robbins]

This image has a much improved head angle and pose over the last one. I like the low perspective and it is framed well. As Al mentioned, the light angle caused some shadows on the bird's back and tail which obscure detail. I know that it won't be easy maneuvering the kayak into a position where your shadow is pointed at the bird, but I think when you get some images with direct frontal lighting and a good pose, you'll agree that it was worth all the work.
Robert's suggestion to appy a bit of USM to the eye and bill is a good one. Hope you'll get a chance with the babies too....

[Blake Shadle]

Nice work, Grady. Nice intimate image captured here. I agree about a bit of additional USM, and some selectively on the eye.

I saw many times in this forum to use "USM" ....For a beginner as i am, what does it mean and how to use it ....by exemple on this picture???

Yves, USM is the acronym for PhotoShop's Unsharp Mask tool, the tool that's most commonly used for sharpening images. I prefer to use Smart Sharpen since PS CS2.

[Yves Matteau]

This image has a much improved head angle and pose over the last one. I like the low perspective and it is framed well. As Al mentioned, the light angle caused some shadows on the bird's back and tail which obscure detail. I know that it won't be easy maneuvering the kayak into a position where your shadow is pointed at the bird, but I think when you get some images with direct frontal lighting and a good pose, you'll agree that it was worth all the work.
Robert's suggestion to appy a bit of USM to the eye and bill is a good one. Hope you'll get a chance with the babies too....

Thank you Linda for taking the time to give me an encouraging answer. As for Robert`s suggestion i will try to find the way to use the USM in photoshop; i am a novice in this matter:(

[Robert O'Toole]

Thank you Linda for taking the time to give me an encouraging answer. As for Robert`s suggestion i will try to find the way to use the USM in photoshop; i am a novice in this matter:(

Sorry about the USM acronym. Blake is correct its Unsharp Mask, Menu>filter>sharpen>unsharp mask.

With any technique in Photoshop there probably a dozen ways to reach the same result. I dont think it is too important which of the many sharpening methonds, USM, Smart Sharpen LAB sharpen, or any of the dozens of $99 plugins that you choose but more how you apply them and at what point in the workflow.

Normally I use some at capture, some in process and most of it as a last step and then only selectively. What ever you do I recommend that you get away from applying one strong sharpening pass. This will create problems with Halos and artifacts etc.

Robert

[Yves Matteau]

Thanks Robert for your advice: it will help.

Yves

[Todd Frost]

Nice image Grady. Agree with previous comments. I hope to get to work some of these before long. We have some not far from our cabin in Eastern WA. Good luck this summer with them.

Todd