Sunset Merganser

Gallery: AvianPosted March 18, 2010242 views17 comments

The other night I was watching a spectacular sunset and saw this Merganser in the distance that was more or less running across the water instead of swimming or flying. There were some seals in the area which may be a partial explanation. After this photo I turned around and saw 2 Peregrine Falcons flying off a tower at the Hampton Bays Coast Guard Station so it was a pretty good evening.

Some may dislike the centered look but I'm posting this first and will probably post a variation next time based on suggestions.

Nikon D300s 300 f4 + 1.7X TC HH from shoreline
f/8
1/4000
ISO 400

- Luke

Full Frame, no noise reduction or sharpening

Comments

17 comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on March 18, 2010 at 8:26 PM

Luke, interesting image. I think if you crop this to much, say to a pano, it would make the bird too large and ruin the overall affect. I like the gradient BG and the bird's wake and the bird. I might work on some mid-tone adjustments to enhance (the richness)the BG colors, but other than that I like it as posted.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lotito on March 18, 2010 at 9:12 PM

I don't thing I would change much! You have captured a moment and done so very well. This photo is less about the bird and more about the beauty of the moment.

Registered on June 26, 2009, 181 Posts, 1558 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on March 18, 2010 at 9:28 PM

cool shot, Luke. a nice serene sunset scene. I'm not sure what I'd do here comp-wise. I do feel the need to move the bird off center, and the first place I look to crop this one is from the bottom, but that is where the richest color is (bottom left), and as soon as it's gone I miss it. I do think that a big part of the feeling I like in this shot is how small the bird is in the frame, so I wouldn't want to crop much (at least without adding canvas elsewhere).

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Marquart on March 18, 2010 at 9:54 PM

Nice looking shot Luke, I would definitely at least try a pano as Ron mentioned, have the bird above or below the horizontal middle of the frame, keep all of the wake on the left side, and with the bird having it's head turned back as it does, it can be closer to the right side of the frame, so any resulting horizontal cropping would be on that side placing the bird closer to the right side, within reason.

Registered on October 24, 2009, 126 Posts, 799 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on March 18, 2010 at 10:43 PM

The centered comp works well for me. If you decrease the overall exposure and make it more of a silhouette I think the sunset colors will be more vibrant and saturated.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on March 18, 2010 at 11:47 PM

Nicely minimalist. I like Nate's suggestion, but at best it would be an improvement on a fine shot.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on March 19, 2010 at 1:50 AM

Looks like that bird is "On Golden Pond." If it was mine I would experiment with a pano crop placing the bird about 1/3 of the way in from the right side just to see how it would look. That kind of crop would make the bird bigger in the frame and it might change the "feel" of the shot. It's a good shot either way.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on March 19, 2010 at 7:07 AM

Nice one Luke - love the wake and the golden light

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on March 19, 2010 at 10:11 AM

Cool duckscape, Luke. I played with moving the larger version around and I do think taking some off the bottom and the right hand side would make a more powerful image.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Kenneth Arni on March 19, 2010 at 12:29 PM

It's funny Luke, I would never have thought to shoot from this far. But, this is really pleasing to me. The color and texture of the water at Sunset is great. I too like the centered crop with the trail behind the bird. Great as is

Registered on December 24, 2008, 112 Posts, 629 Comments

Comment posted by Graham Brown on March 19, 2010 at 1:15 PM

I like the concept of the image very much and it would be interesting to play around with the crop. My initial thoughts are that a pano crop would be more suitable with less room on the right because the bird is looking backwards . Since there is no detail in the bird I would also be tempted to make it more silhouetted by increasing the contrast which would also give the colours more vibrancy. Graham

Registered on November 20, 2007, 275 Posts, 1365 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on March 19, 2010 at 2:57 PM

I like avian images like this, with all the negative space. Should you want to avoid the centered comp. it might work well cropping from the right, which will give the bird some space to look back into. You could also tighten the crop a bit, as there is quite a lot of negative space (many variations could be done).

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by David Sparks on March 19, 2010 at 4:07 PM

Luke:
I like it a lot. I also like the suggestions of Nate and Graham.

Registered on May 26, 2007, 290 Posts, 4270 Comments

Comment posted by Ross McClure on March 19, 2010 at 4:30 PM

Hey Luke,
A nice image. I like the simplicity and the coloring. Keep it up.
Ross

Registered on January 29, 2010, 16 Posts, 66 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Day on March 19, 2010 at 5:15 PM

What good are rules if you can't break one now and then. Your Merganser seems to be looking back over his shoulder to make sure he's not being followed. I like the simplicity of this and the color.

Registered on August 5, 2008, 25 Posts, 173 Comments

Comment posted by Charles Gangas on March 19, 2010 at 10:02 PM

Beautiful shot Luke. The image is very peaceful and serene.

Registered on August 12, 2009, 544 Posts, 2414 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on March 20, 2010 at 12:12 PM

Luke,
simple but effective!

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments