If I hear flapping from the deck it usually means a loon is having a preen quite close by and so it was one morning in August. The sun was just coming through the trees on the other side of the river as I shot from the dock. The backlighting in the wings is really amazing to me even if it makes getting any detail in the face and neck a bit of a challenge. The light here is being affected by smoke haze from fires in Minnesota and Ontario. It made white balance challenging.
I just realized I have other, sillier shots in this series so will have to post them. Preening loons get into lots of strange contortions and it’s pretty funny. Feet flapping and rolling in the water. It’s great to watch.
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How about that white balance? And the shadows/blacks on the head? Anything else?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Handheld, probably sitting with elbows on knees.
Lr processed for initial wb management and a little crop. Topaz DeNoise & Sharpen. Back to Lr for some brush work to bring up the shadows on the head without making it seem too fake. Also on the belly where the water has beaded up.
Perfect “The Conductor” pose! WB looks fine to me. There is some tonal detail in the darks and that always makes me greedy, especially with today’s NR tools. I wonder about a slight toning down of the light water behind the loon, and maybe toward the far right edge.
Isn’t it though? Maybe the dawn chorus needed whipping into shape!
Here’s another shot taken seconds before. It’s not quite as good, but adds to the story a bit. Their wings are so gorgeous. I’ve only ever seen one fly a couple of times, but it’s impressive once they get up there. They need open water, and quite a bit of it, to get airborne. Sometimes the wildlife rehab place gets them into care on the tail ends of the season due to black ice and the birds thinking it’s water. They land, and land hard, then can’t get up again. Their legs are set as far back as a penguins’ pretty much, but their body configuration is different so walking is nearly impossible. Once they’re down on land, they stay down.
