I captured this image at a local park as I was finishing up my morning birding/photography. It was 9:30am and the sun was high enough in the sky that the light was not ideal for bird photography. This particular pied-billed grebe was close to the edge of the pond and was unconcerned with my presence. Overhead the sun coming through the trees branches gave the water an interesting dappled look. I found a low place along the shore where I could almost get my camera a water level and shot a few images.
The overall scene was a little dark. I spot metered off the grebe and increased the exposure compensation to +.7. The bill and head ended up being overexposed. I was able to darken the head of the grebe, but the water on the bill was too bright and could not be brought back in post, but is not that noticeable in the edited version. See the captions in the first image for all the adjustments I made in post.
Camera Sony A7RIV
Camera Data
Exposure Bias Value: 0.7
Exposure Mode: Auto exposure
Exposure Program: Aperture priority
FNumber: 6.3
Focal Length: 600
Focal Length In 35mm Film: 600
Metering Mode: Spot
Shutter Speed Value: 1/1000
White Balance: Auto white balance
Lens Model: Sony FE 200–600mm F5.6–6.3 G OSS (SEL200600G)