A subject high on my wish list and a subject I have rarely seen in summer plumage. This year one of the local gravel pits has attracted three migrating birds, two of which appear to have paired up, and all are now in their glorious summer plumage.
With a break in the forecast rain I took a trip down today to try my luck. As usual for most of the morning they were all dots in the middle of the pit but after a couple of hours of feeding they gradually moved to a shallow bay giving me a half chance at catching up with them.
That said the bank scrub line held few gaps to squeeze down into so I couldn't really control my position as I wanted, ie to photograph them against a dark band of vegetation shadow - so most images had to be taken with open water and as a result tricky overhead contrast lighting.
A small compositional crop and resized
Olympus E-3, 300mm F2.8 plus 2x converter (1,200mm FOV), iso 200, 1/320s at F8, tripod. Contrast reduction pass to enhance black feather detail and compensation tweak to levels.
NB was in two minds whether to remove the mayfly..... but left it in....
Posted by John Robinson on April 10, 2013 at 2:12 PM
Quick comment or two between pill popping.
Spot on Mike.-even with a reflection !!
Cheers
JR
Posted by Barry Southon on April 10, 2013 at 2:13 PM
Mike
A cracker in every aspect your effort well repaid. The Mayfly being the icing on the cake.
Posted by Neil Burton on April 10, 2013 at 2:21 PM
Lovely birds made all the nicer for the plumage. Cracking job.
Hope you all like these gebes as there is a series to follow.........
olour Cast noted and the "grey point" dropper to be used on all future water shots........
Posted by Bob Johnson on April 11, 2013 at 8:01 AM
Cracking grebe shot there Mike. For me personally I would remove the fly
Also it could just be me but it looks to be quite noisy in the plumage and the reflection, especially for a ISO 200 and a modest crop.
Bob
Posted by Mike Smith on April 11, 2013 at 10:36 AM
Bob
Thanks - re the noise banding, I hadn't run a noise reduction pass in processing for this and in the early series of shots had badly underestimated the amount of +EV compensation required under the conditions hence I had to push the processing compensation for this one - never a good idea with the Oly sensor/files
Posted by Nick Mckeown on April 14, 2013 at 6:59 AM
Stunning bird and one I have never seen as they are pretty rare. keep 'em coming Mike!
Discussion
10 repliesWith a break in the forecast rain I took a trip down today to try my luck. As usual for most of the morning they were all dots in the middle of the pit but after a couple of hours of feeding they gradually moved to a shallow bay giving me a half chance at catching up with them.
That said the bank scrub line held few gaps to squeeze down into so I couldn't really control my position as I wanted, ie to photograph them against a dark band of vegetation shadow - so most images had to be taken with open water and as a result tricky overhead contrast lighting.
A small compositional crop and resized
Olympus E-3, 300mm F2.8 plus 2x converter (1,200mm FOV), iso 200, 1/320s at F8, tripod. Contrast reduction pass to enhance black feather detail and compensation tweak to levels.
NB was in two minds whether to remove the mayfly..... but left it in....
Spot on Mike.-even with a reflection !!
Cheers
JR
A cracker in every aspect your effort well repaid. The Mayfly being the icing on the cake.
Keith.
greetings,
Jeroen Stel
David
Hope you all like these gebes as there is a series to follow.........
olour Cast noted and the "grey point" dropper to be used on all future water shots........
Also it could just be me but it looks to be quite noisy in the plumage and the reflection, especially for a ISO 200 and a modest crop.
Bob
Thanks - re the noise banding, I hadn't run a noise reduction pass in processing for this and in the early series of shots had badly underestimated the amount of +EV compensation required under the conditions hence I had to push the processing compensation for this one - never a good idea with the Oly sensor/files
Nick.