Bird Photo Competition 5 2014 : Entry Number 154

Judges Comment

Shooting this grebe from water level with a long focal length lens and wide aperture has created a beautiful canvas of golden reflections

Photographers Comment

Last summer I have been searching grebes at several lakes around Bonn, Germany. I found some, but they would not let me come close. So I put on my diving suit, set up my tripod slightly below water level and set up my cam on top of it 5cm above water level. This way I could take this shot deep down at water-level and get this perspective. The yellow colors origin from the warm and soft sunlight right before dusk shining on yellow trees on the other side of the lake. The grebe itself was in the shadow. To take this picture I needed to wait in the lake for more than two weeks. The diving suit really was a big help. Equipment used: Most important: Berlebach UNI tripod + Berlebach Pegasus head Cam: Canon 5D Mark 2 Lens: EF 400 2.8 L II (non is) + 1.4x TC (Canon Version 1) + 1.4x TC (Kenko) [I lost my Canon EF 2x III in this lake, so I needed to stack my other two converters] Colors are ooc.
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