Red-breasted Merganser

Ron,

I like the look at the serrated bill and the raised wing. Mergansers are never easy to get close to... it looks like it needs a bit of a CCW rotation though and I wish for more room on the bottom of the reflection instead of up top.

Beautiful subject with nice pose that shows great detail of the wing. The reflections are very pleasant, showing various nuances of brown. Looking at small waves circles , the bird requires a small rotation CCW IMO .
Giorgio

Bird is nice and sharp but a bit too centered for my tastes. The reflection is broken by the waves and in does not add much to the picture. I would cut some off the bottom to bring the mergamser off center for a more interesting picture. I agree about some straightening.

An unusual moment with the raised wing. I like the reflection and would retain it in the image. I agree about needing some CCW rotation.

I appreciate your critical comments on rotation for this image and I agree that based on the ripples the shot calls for CCW rotation, so I'm certainly not arguing with the nits. However, I'd like to suggest that there are cues other than the ripples that indicate proper rotation and they don't always agree.

As I stated in my original comment, this image was rotated "based on eye reflection". The bird's eye is dead on vertical to its reflection. Here's a version of the same image (thanks to Rich Ditch for providing the graphic), rotated so that the ripples are level (horizontal). As you can see, the reflections of the eye, wing tip and bill tip are all now way off vertical.

A dilemma, seems to me. If you rotate based on the ripples, the reflection is off and vice versa. A no win scenario? What would you do in this case?

An interesting question and I hope others will join in the discussion.

Like you I often use the reflection of key body elements (like the eye or pond-side vegetation) to set the level. In this particular case I wonder if the water surface is distorted by the ripples enough to make the alignment off.

I was going to say that I didn't think any rotation was required judging from the eye reflection - presto, I see you've done that.

Shooting from the car/truck window is one of my favourite "hides", but I have stayed away from employing this method with waterfowl because I cannot get the low angle I want.

Excellent image and interesting discussion - appreciate your explanation and graphics. .
I always go with the eye reflection, but this does often create the illusion of the rest being mis-aligned.
Sandy

First, nice image of a cool species. Love the water and lifted wing. Keep the reflection IMO. It adds for me. As far as rotation goes, ripples can throw off the reflected elements from proper alignment with the same elements on the bird, but for the most part using that method will get you very close, as you already know. I generally stick with it unless doing so results in an obvious issue with levelness. In this case, I believe any "tilt" after initial rotation is an optical illusion brought on by the angle of the ripples. Not saying some additional rotation would not help the presentation. I might rotate a bit more to get things looking better, but not to the point of getting the ripples level as they are not supposed to be level. Sometimes you need to rotate for "proper" look and not worry about what is level and what should be level, but I don't find this situation very often. My two cents on this.

Terrific detail and the water is great. To me too it looks like maybe a tad bit of CCW rotation. I too typically use something like you did, getting the eye or something else perfectly vertical. Guess for me it boils down to overall "feel". Not sure it's the ripples for me, but instead the slope of where the bird's body meets the water that gives me the initial impression it could use a bit of CCW rotation.

I hope I have understood the topic. In my opinion, as we talk about wildlife photography, the water level in the picture must always be horizontal (and when we do not see the horizon we can alternatively refer to waves that propagate) to represent properly a law of physics. I therefore believe that this point should be absolutely respected, regardless of the aesthetic result of the image. If I am wrong I apologize, I'm a doctor not a physicist.
Giorgio

Good shot of the merganser and I like the detail on the head and raised wing. I did read your comments first about the rotation and now understand why you did this. I guess it depends on how you want to display this. A magazine would probably want this rotated in line with the ripples and I would agree that it does look off at first glance. For me, my eye goes to the merganser to check out sharpness, color and feather detail first, then I notice the reflection, so having it rotated based on eye reflection at first through me off. Interesting discussion, you learn something new every week here.

Interesting discussion, you learn something new every week here.

I agree Jim and for me it's sometimes more often than that. Thank you to all those who responded here - very informative!

Really nice image Ron. I can see both arguments but if it were mine I would rotate it some because whether it is optical illusion or not it looks a bit tilted before analyzing whether it actually is or not.

Ron-a very interesting shot that has provoked an equally interesting discussion. While I'm not a physicist, I have, as an aviator, experienced spacial disorientation cause by external visual stimuli and motion. In the example presented by your photo we have a two dimensional image that I think creates the illusion of motion absent physical features which would provide a level horizon, if you will. The subject floating within a fluid medium with no visual horizontal anchor suggests disequilibrium, prompting calls for CCW. However, your graphic overlay provides for an "instrument" which indicates a correct orientation, which is very similar to the Horizontal Situational Instrument (HSI) which I rely on in the cockpit to provide a solution- a horizontal gyro which keeps me straight and level.

LP looks very nice Ron, great pose & reflection..Wouldn't change a thing.
OK - after further review..
Perhaps that slight CCW rotation mentioned is in order. Assuming you have the room bottom.
I especially like the waters complimentary color

Very nice image Ron.
May

Hi Ron. Haven't been able to get a good shot of one of these yet so I'm a bit envious of this image.Very sharp and well exposed as usual, I like the raised feather, reflection and water colour. I've had this orientation problem many times but when the bird is moving at an angle to the horizontal then surely the ripples will follow that path and will not look level. I agree I would always look for the vertical alignment in these circumstances if an obvious compromise cannot be reached. Graham