What are you up to back there

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What are you up to back there
What are you up to back there2000×1429 978 KB

If you stay at the Quail Lodge in Carmel, CA you get to experience semi-captive birds. On the pond are coots, ducks, a green heron and this cormorant. Lots of song birds, too, and since they’re habituated to our presence, they don’t fly away at the least approach. This cormorant came in while we had breakfast and hung out for a bit. I spent a few minutes getting close to it and eventually caught this pose while on the footbridge over the pond. It’s standing on a submerged platform that has some planks on top to make for resting places. Not pretty, but what can you do?

Recently I read that cormorants do not use oil to waterproof their plumage. Instead they let the outer layers get waterlogged in order to dive deeper. The inner feathers stay dry and keep the bird warm, but they have to haul out and dry off. It may also have a heat managing effect in certain climates and times of the year.

Specific Feedback Requested

Well, I’m trying to do better with birds. I think I could have upped the f-stop here and the ISO for a crisper bird from front to back, but I’ll take opinions.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Lumix G9
Lumix G Vario 35-100mm f/2.8 lens @ 80mm (160mm equiv.)
f/4 | 1/320 sec | ISO 200
Handheld between bridge railing supports

Lr processed - cropped a bit, moved white & black points, upped clarity & texture, sharpening & NR. Shifted color channels around to maximize glow. Brush on face and eye to improve exposure and clarity. Ps to remove a metric ton of crap in the water.

@the.wire.smith
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The depth of field looks pretty good to me, Kris. Maybe just a tad more, but your processing makes it look fine front to back. I’m surprised this is so brown-I’m used to cormorants being black, but I did look them up for another post and I believe the juveniles are about this color. You mention being on a bridge-any chance you could have gotten lower? In any case , this is a fine image of a Cormorant.

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Thanks Dennis. I was on a bridge squatted down between the supports on the handrail. Without wading into the pond this was as low as I could get on this side. I thought it might be a young one, but I don’t know enough to tell.

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Good job on the exposure and plumage detail. I don’t know if leveling out the platform would be helpful. I do agree that this is probably a juvenile. And I think you had good lighting conditions for the plumage.

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I like not only the sharp focus on the Cormorant, but the contrast between its colour and the green lake.

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Nice job to get the bird exposed well, yet not blow out the highlights in the water. An extremely difficult shot which you handled well.

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