Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
Any thoughts on cropping as this is an elongated bird so I did not hold to traditional ratios.
Anything else.
Technical Details
Canon R7, 400mm F4 DO IS II, 1.4x extender III
first image: ISO 640, f7.1, 1/2000s, hand held
second image: ISO 500, f6.3, 1/1600s, hand held
Great shots showing the bird…especially with the fish! I don’t mind the horizontal cropping at all. I find the blue a bit bright compared to the bird…I think these would be great black-and-white shots as well. How fun to find something uncommon!
Oh what a treat! Loons are a favorite with almost everyone and I love that you caught one with a fish. Loons hang out on the river out back so I see and photograph them a lot, sometimes without getting out of my chair, lol. So that’s why I see a major anomaly with the shots you posted. The blacks. They look weird. Especially in the shot with the fish. In most light, loon heads appear nearly solid black and so my gut reaction is they should be deeper. The feathers have a velvety quality, too. Also the darkness in the water appears lifted too far as well. I’m curious to see what the RAW files look like and if there is some depth and texture there. In some lights the iridescence in the feathers shows up, especially in the collar and it can be quite tricky to catch and render well. I’ve struggled with it many a time.
But the poses look good and you’re almost down at eye level with them which is good for engagement.
Hi Allen
You have two nice low angle shots here. A 16 by 9 works in these photographs and I am kind of split on the posting. I like the first frame in your your first posting and the second frame in the last posting.
Peter
Definitely better. I was looking at my shots of loons and in every one of them, regardless of type or angle of light, the head looks rich and velvety black. Judging by your settings for these, it doesn’t seem like you were overexposing badly enough to lose shadow detail. And the R7 sure does hang onto that so it seems. A little baffling. I hope they stick around so you can try for more. Have you heard them sing yet? Unforgettable.
@Kris_Smith
I’ve heard one call in the past - very cool. This one hasn’t vocalized in the three times I have observed him/her.
I’m wondering if some difference in this bird versus your images is that this bird may have not completely taken on full breeding plumage yet. Seems to be still gaining/losing some feathers. Just a thought on that. I really don’t know for sure.
Thanks for your help - this is the first loon I have photographed in breeding plumage (saw one in winter plumage a few years back).
Oh good point - a juvenile getting its adult feathers in could be the reason for the muddiness. And/or that it’s not in breeding plumage. Don’t I feel dumb! Doh!
Loons are such special birds and I am always excited to see them again. They are big babies though and usually the last to arrive and the first to leave, unlike the Trumpeters that are the first to arrive and the last to leave. All night they were out back on the water yelling. They don’t call them Trumpeters for nothing.
