It looks like it might take off, but really it was just having a big, long preening session.
From the deck I heard energetic flapping and splashing. This time of year no other birds except loons can make this much noise on our bit of river so I went down with the long lens and sat on the end of the dock. Luckily it was calm and the dock was very steady.
After about 20 minutes of preening and a couple of dives it drifted closer to me in the river channel. The amount of maintenance the feathers require is extensive and when they preen they are very active - using water to help them remove debris and generally doing a lot of flapping and fussing to get things right. I have some video that is hilarious. We think of loons as elegant and serene, but when they preen the can go right upside down and flail their feet in the air. It’s really fun to watch.
I don’t have many good images of the action, but this one came out fairly well. It’s not perfect, but acceptable to me. I like the pose and the fact that it’s not your typical loon shot. It’s such a privilege and a wonder to just go out back and be this close to one.
Specific Feedback Requested
Any and all bird photography advice is welcome. I thought about cleaning up the water droplets around and above the bird, but decided not to. Are they too much?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Lumix G9
P/L 100-400 f/4-6.3 lens @ 400mm
f/6.3 | 1/1250 sec | ISO 640
Handheld braced on knees (hooray for DUAL IS!)
Lr processed for a crop, exposure & wb adjustment. Clarity & texture with a little dehaze applied in a graduated filter in the foreground. Ps to clone out some bright spots on the far shoreline and to use two Smart Object layers for sharpening and noise reduction with a mask for the bird. This required two trips in and out - one as Smart objects and one as a regular file.
Hi Kristen
I think you did a very good job on this loon. The little white spots in the air, I am guessing are water droplets? It looked like a nice way to spend 20 minutes with a camera on a dock watching a loon.
Peter
Hi Kris! Nice capture! I think you should keep the water droplets it wouldn’t look right without them. I think it helps to show the movement more,which for some reason seems overfrozen in the front and then the wings are really blurred, like I would think at 1/1250 the wings would be a tad more sharp. I don’t know how to explain it. I’m just giving my impression from what I know technically. But I like the story and action shot!
Cool! Birds can move very fast and I’m not surprised that 1/1250 shows some wing blur, but I think that adds to the drama of the image. And the frozen droplets add to the impression – keep them , for sure! It’s so nice to see a loon in a sightly different context!
The most important attribute for a wildlife photographer - patience. Here it paid off. A very fine capture as it appears you were fighting some glare off the water.
Why were you going to give up bird photography? I I like this! As others have said, I like the water droplets. They add to the dynamism of the scene
How much if any did you have to crop?
Also, I’m interested in the PS technique of masking for the bird and the two trips in and out for sharpening and noise reduction. I hardly use Smart Objects at all…I need to learn more about how to use them as you have here.
Thanks Terry and you’re right. It took a while for the loon to come close, but it was such an entertaining show that I didn’t mind. I don’t know what’s better watching them or hearing them call.
Aww, thanks Mark. I was sort of joking about the bird photography. I’m really new at it and was looking at a couple of Diane’s images and said that I might as well hang up my spurs since I’ll never be that good. All it takes is practice and patience and luck, so I’ll keep at it. Especially when it’s this easy.
OK. If this is a totally stupid way to do this, let me know, but it’s a technique I’ve used a few times and I like it.
This only really works with a very distinct subject like a bird on a stick.
Bring your image into Ps as a Smart Object. Right click on the layer and create a new S.O. via copy. On your top layer, select the object however you want and then make a selection. Select Subject and Select and Mask seems to work well and then I refine it however I need to make sure the edges are good. Just save as a Selection. I click the layer mask icon at the bottom of the layer panel to create a layer mask. You want the mask on the layer not below it. Do your sharpening on this layer - I use Smart Sharpen. Only the selected area will be sharpened.
Now open the bottom layer in Camera Raw (double click). Crank your noise reduction to the point of ridiculous - that you’re losing detail in your subject. With the mask in place on the layer above the noise reduction should only be on the areas outside the mask.
Save the image back to Lightroom.
I’ve never tried to do this with regular layers in Photoshop, only as Smart Object layers. As a result I haven’t been able to do any cloning, healing or content-aware fill correction. I’m so new to Ps that I don’t know why, but it’s not something you can do with a S.O. So what I do is bring the finished file back to Ps as a PSD file and then do any cloning or healing. It’s cumbersome and if there’s another way to do it I’d love to learn.
I like this, Kris. As others have said, the drops work well. I would think about removing some of the bright water at the bottom of the frame. It feels like a bit much to me.
I’m just getting into Smart Objects, but you might check out Sean Bagshaw’s tutorial on using them. He does very good classes.
Hi Kris, love these loons even though a species we rarely see in my part of Tennessee. I agree with others on keeping the droplets and the nice sense of movement in the wings. A very fine image.
Thanks Dennis & Allen. Two were hanging around yesterday, but of course too far for photos from the dock. Maybe today. I never imagined I’d be able to watch them from my backyard.
Done and done. See the repost above.
I’ve heard about the Bagshaw vids and might investigate one of these days.
I just caught our male hummingbird on some flowers yesterday so will try to do the nr/sharpening deal without using a S.O. - will report my results on that post. Coming shortly.
Until and if I decide to buy one of the plug-in noise reduction or sharpening apps, I’m handling a lot of noise in this way. I’ve just done it without porting the image over as a Smart Object and it works the same way except that you can’t keep changing the effects on either layer like you can with an S.O. But if you have to do any object removal you can get that done first and then go about the nr, masking and sharpening. You can also blend the layers like any others in Ps, so if you want other effects you can have them.
