Black-necked grebe

[Phill Luckhurst]

In my part of the UK, just north of London, these are a bit of a rarity. We do get them on migration but usually in winter plumage. So when one arrived locally I had to take the opportunity to. We were doubly lucky as this one was at a location where waterside access is allowed. Most spots we can only shoot from hides, usually designed for scopes and not photography. I did have to lay in the mud to get low to the water but needs must. This is not the best shot of the day showing off the bird, but I like having a little action in an image, in this case about to nab an emerging insect.

• Canon EOS R7
• EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM
• ƒ/5.6
• 400mm
• 1/2500s
• ISO 500
• Phill Luckhurst
• Sat, 29 April 2023 11:07 AM
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 12.3 (Windows)

 

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Nice scene. Perfect low shooting angle. Lovely, clean FG/BG. Well-timed shot with the bird eyeing its meal. Could be the site overhaul or my monitor, but details aren't looking sharp at full size. Have you played with opening up the dark areas on the bird a bit? Thanks for sharing.

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Phill
Very cool shot with the stretched neck to get the insect ... top notch timing !!!
Lovely clean image and the low angle is very cool .
Colors look good , blacks might be a bit strong .
The image does appear quite soft here on my screen ??!!

TFS Andreas

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Phill, good to see this bird, they are not exactly common where I am either! Good capture, nice timing! The image is large, when downloaded it does appear a tad soft but when resized to 1920px on the long axis and sharpened for web purposes it looks better to my eye, though I agree the darkest areas are a little dense.

 

[Daniel Cadieux]

This is very nice, Phil! Great low angle, nice light with rich warm tones, and the little potential prey item is neat. If I can suggest anything, it would be to crop some off the right and below, just to de-center the subject.

 

[Phill Luckhurst]

Thanks for all the comments, always appreciated.

The blacks are always hard for me as I am still using an old Fujitsu office monitor on my desktop. Blacks never look dark on it, so when I view on a decent screen it really shows. It is about time I invested in something decent. I do have an iPad Pro so I could begin to do sanity checks on that.

Sharpening is something Iam very wary of. In my early days I often over did it with some truly cringe worthy results. I sometimes look back and wonder what I was thinking of at the time. So now I tend todo none despite knowing I should when posting online.

 

[Steve Kaluski]

It is about time I invested in something decent.

Hi Phil, you have invested in the gear, so yes, it's time to invest in a monitor, otherwise you are just wasting time and not doing yourself any favours. It may seem harsh, but seriously, folk miss the point that you could take the best shot in the world, but it's then lost within the PP. Wexphoto may have deals from time to time, but seek advice, make sure you can calibrate it and no need for 4k, save your money for other areas.

To drive the monitor ideally a Mac, but subject to funds then PC, but having a monitor that is at desk height will make all the difference.

If it helps, I do know of a very good company that sells refurbished Macs if that was an option, and not to far away too.

 

[Phill Luckhurst]

Hi Phil, you have invested in the gear, so yes, it's time to invest in a monitor, otherwise you are just wasting time and not doing yourself any favours. It may seem harsh, but seriously, folk miss the point that you could take the best shot in the world, but it's then lost within the PP. Wexphoto may have deals from time to time, but seek advice, make sure you can calibrate it and no need for 4k, save your money for other areas.

To drive the monitor ideally a Mac, but subject to funds then PC, but having a monitor that is at desk height will make all the difference.

If it helps, I do know of a very good company that sells refurbished Macs if that was an option, and not to far away too.

Thanks. I am an IT specialist by profession so do know my way around things. Unfortunately partly because of that I have to stay PC as some tools I use regularly are not available in MAC OS or don’t work well for various reasons, that and I do game at times.

But yes, I am now planning to get a decent monitor. The side by side comparison to my iPad Pro 12” really shows the difference, and the iPad screen is very well regarded for colour accuracy.

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks. I am an IT specialist by profession so do know my way around things. Unfortunately partly because of that I have to stay PC as some tools I use regularly are not available in MAC OS or don’t work well for various reasons, that and I do game at times.

Great, so you will know your way around things, but as you say, best keep to the tools you know.

But yes, I am now planning to get a decent monitor. The side by side comparison to my iPad Pro 12” really shows the difference, and the iPad screen is very well regarded for colour accuracy.

No idea on the iPads even though I've been with Apple since the mid '90's and have gone through the robust 'bigger beasts', but now the 'Mini' ones are oh so good, and you can lift them too.

Happy hunting.

 

[Phill Luckhurst]

One thing of note on the dark blacks that I didn’t mention though. This was the time of day I was shooting. As can be seen by the highlight in the eye, the sun was at its peak. I would have gone early in the morning but I promised a friend I would bring him along. He is one of those night owls who then rises not before 10am. So by the time we reached the lake it was nearly midday. I had planned to go back the next morning but sadly the bird decided to move on.