Hooded Merganser

Gallery: AvianPosted November 6, 201099 views10 comments

Migration in a great time to find birds that I don't see during the breeding season. Light was a little flat, but the hood went up and I started shooting - also helped to not clip the whites or blacks. Worked this up on a new laptop, so was wondering how brightness and contrast look. Posted larger image as well for a better look.

D300 500mm
iso 200 F5.6
ev -0.5
slight crop

Thanks for taking a look and all C&C appreciated

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Karen Summers on November 6, 2010 at 4:53 PM

Great shot exposure and colours looks really good what a beautiful bird I think the light was in your favour else those whites would have been a pain

Registered on December 3, 2009, 83 Posts, 818 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on November 6, 2010 at 5:20 PM

The brightness and contrast look good to me Jay. Great job on the exposure and detail - one of my favorite ducks.

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

Comment posted by Eric Diller on November 6, 2010 at 8:35 PM

Very nice exposure and detail!! It amazes me the difference in image quality on this forum from the post size and the larger version. Larger version looks so nice compared to 170 kb image!

Registered on October 2, 2009, 69 Posts, 434 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on November 6, 2010 at 11:21 PM

I wish I could get anywhere near a merganser, hooded or otherwise... they are quite skittish in my parts. Exposure looks awesome

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on November 7, 2010 at 4:49 AM

Nice low angle Jay and great detail in the larger image. I like the way the browns in the water and the bird's flank complement each other

cheers
Rob

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

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on November 7, 2010 at 7:58 AM

this looks great, Jay. I think the light worked out quite well for this bird. details look excellent.

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

Comment posted by Angela McCain on November 7, 2010 at 8:01 AM

Very well done. I think that the low light was a benefit here, as it allowed you to get a lot of nice detail in the blacks and the whites are true... Brightness and contrast appear to be good. And, it's a cool bird. I would consider a re-crop. Taking off the bottom, adding to the top and maybe just a few more pixels on the left side.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on November 7, 2010 at 6:50 PM

Very nice image Jay.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on November 7, 2010 at 9:46 PM

Cool bird very well captured.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on November 8, 2010 at 11:58 AM

Jay, I think you did very well with the challenging exposure, the light was a big help I am sure. Love the raised hood, look at the eye and the warm tones reflected on the water give a nice fall feeling to this photo. I'd like to see a bit more room on the left hand side if you have some in the original frame and would take some off of the bottom.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments