I have been trying year after year to get a good shot of a Loon. I will have a zoom lens this year, but they don't seem to stay above water long enough for me to get a good shot.

Two choices: a)patiently sit at shore when birds seem most active. Hope one will come close enough. b) climb into your canoe and paddle to a "loony looking" place. Patiently sit and hope a bird makes an appearance. Use a tripod if possible.

So patience is the biggest component I think while luck plays the part of a bird appearing. If you have a decent zoom lens I'm sure you'll get some great shots this summer.

what jimi said

my 2 cents would be to get as low as possible so you can get an eye level perspective. hope for good light and be careful with exposure as it's tricky to keep the details in both the light and dark areas of a black and white bird. i'd take a meter reading of a middle tone object in the same light as the loon and bracket 1/3 stop over and under.

good luck!!

Loons can be tough. You just have to have the camera nearby. I've found that it's easiest to get shots of loons while paddling. What I do is carry my SLR with a 100-400 image stabilized zoom lens inside a dry bag that's in my day pack. I keep my day pack right in front of my feet with the main pocket open and the dry bag closed. If I see something like in either one of these shots, I can have my camera out and ready to shoot in seconds.

Bear bait is spot on regarding difficulty in getting a good exposure. Because of the high dynamic range you'll capture with a loon (deep black to bright white), it can also help if you're shooting while it's cloudy. Otherwise you'll have to sacrifice detail in either the shadows or highlights. Personnally, I expose (shooting digital) to just barely clip the highlights. I also shoot in RAW format. This allows me to recover details in post processing from the highlights and then boost the shadows without adding too much digital noise. Hope this helps.

The first thing is to have your camera ready all the time for that photo. You never know when Mr. loon will pop up in front of you. Canoe next to shore until you find a nest area, but don't disturb them. They will be feeding close to there so they can bring food back to the young ones.

I'm not much of a wildlife photographer, but I saw these and was impressed.

loon

eagle in flight

quote Wind-in the-Face from Quiet Journey

Mk,
I have to confess, these are not truly my shots. I was only the facilitator for my daughter-in-law. Our trip last July was through the S-chain. First trip for my son & his wife. Primary goal was relaxation and photography rather than fishing. On this particular day on North Bay, near the exit/entrance to the S-chain, I paddled slowly while she sat in the bow. We stalked this eagle, very slowly, for hours. Really. She used a 270mm zoom lens that she had to hold very steady. When it finally lifted and flew, she clicked off about a dozen shots at a time. A lot of them were out of focus to some degree, but some were pretty good. You've seen some of the better ones. Same with the loon pics, etc. The beauty of digital photography is not having to worry about film developing and expense. In 7 days she took over 1100 shots, of which only about 300 were good and about 50 were, in my opinion, stunning. It changed me; I'll never go to Quetico again without a good camera, and I'll always take time to use it. I can re-live that trip so much better than with just a journal.
I'd like to find time to produce a trip report like the ones HoHo does. They are spectacular because of his skillful combination of prose and photography.
So, now you know. Glad you've enjoyed.
WiF

We were up on Jordan Lake a few years ago in June. One evening while out fishing we came across a loon sitting on a nest. We were able to get some incredible close up shots by being very quiet and remaining almost motionless. With limited trips (1 or 2 a year), shots of loons on the water have been much more a matter of luck for me. Time and persistence would certainly up my chances of consistently taking decent wildlife shots. Unfortunately I don't have nearly enough of either.

There are some tame loons on some popular and easily accessible trout lakes that love to get their picture taken. Hare and Echo Lakes are a few that have very friendly loons that seem to like the attention. I believe loons mate for life and are territorial about their lake and always come back to the same one each year so there is a good chance they're still on those lakes just waiting for you.

Think about it this way, taking a pic of a goose in yer city park is easy but getting with in a 100 yards of one in North Dakota, not so much.

loons are rather unpredictable. you know you will see them, but to get them in photo range, with good light, is another matter. my camera is always nearly ready, when a good wildlife encounter is inevitable, i get set and ready as quickly as possible. on remote routes, even in the BWCA, it quite possible to get very close to these birds. it is essential that you can handle your canoe in a manner that you are not making a scene with your paddling. patience is most recommended.

I was able to get this shot on Insula last May. Usually they dive just as I get ready to hit the shutter but this one just swam casually by without a care. Crossed our path about 10 feet in front of our canoe and stayed above water for quite a long time. I suggest getting low (at water level) and hope you have good light and cooperation from the sneaky buggers.

I understand completely. I tried for the perfect shot and I got the "moon" instead of the loon.

With any wild life photography, you don't want to miss that "kodak" moment, and when you do you hope all the settings are set just right. You might already know this but I'll mention it anyway. So if you own a dslr, I highly recommend using the Aperture priority setting, and bracketing your photo.

Bracketing will allow you to take multiple shots of your subject while using different exposures. This is a nice safety valve if you did not have the appropriate exposure setting. I will usually set my camera +2 and -2 stops. In addition, once you have your three photos, you could layer them to create a high dynamic range (HDR) photo.

If you have enough memory in your camera, I agree with lmislinski. Shoot using RAW.

As far as getting within close enough range goes. Patience, being calm and moving slow. Birds will usually become more relaxed if they feel less threatened.

So as for that Loon shot; best of luck! I too am waiting for that shot, but this is what I have so far:

if interested, here is a link to my nature photos:
My Photos On Flickr