Buffleheads

Gallery: AvianPosted April 12, 2011161 views8 comments

This was made at the same pond as the bufflehead photo Nate posted a week ago. It seemed as though one of the drakes would cross into another's territory just to see how far he could get before being chased away. Anyway it was fun to watch and very challenging to photograph.

Canon Mark IV, 600mm, 1/5000 @ f8, ISO 640, manual mode, spot meter reading off white feathers + 1 1/3 EV, cropped 20% on sides and bottom

I appreciate all your comments and suggestions

Ken Archer

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on April 12, 2011 at 8:12 AM

This works well for me Ken, even though the background duck is quite OOF. The foreground bird is sharp and I like the behavior, the water splashes and the splayed feet of the bird in the rear. I would like to see a little more detail in some of the whites of the duck in front.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on April 12, 2011 at 8:52 AM

Splendid capture Ken! I really like the water splashes thrown up in the lead subject's wake and the composition as a whole :^)

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on April 12, 2011 at 2:28 PM

Excellent action capture, Ken. The birds always seem to be flying away from me.

The whites on the front bird are a bit hot on my monitor; I don't know if you could capture lost detail by reprocessing the RAW in ACR or not.

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

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on April 12, 2011 at 4:18 PM

I really like the action in this image Ken and the splashing water adds to it. The whites do seem a touch hot in areas, you may be able to gain some of that back in RAW, I'm not sure though. I like the comp you used and the OOF duck in the backgrounds adds some drama too.

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

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on April 12, 2011 at 10:07 PM

Ha love the pose of the oof bird. Looks like fun. I'm thinking I wish the oof bird was in focus but it's still cool as is

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on April 12, 2011 at 11:53 PM

That's really cool Ken, I like the oof bird and the spacing of the 2 birds. I never did get this particular shot (I guess I should say haven't gotten it yet as maybe there is still time this year). A tough exposure for sure, you caught the irridesence nicely on the front bird, maybe a touch bright on the neck. Neat shot.

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

Comment posted by Murali Santhanam on April 13, 2011 at 1:54 PM

Nice action. Looks like birds landing or taking off in a queue

Registered on July 31, 2008, 43 Posts, 331 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on April 14, 2011 at 7:55 PM

Thanks everyone for your comments and keen eye's, especially about the blown whites. I must have been tired when processing this one, I checked the raw file and there is good detail there, so I reprocessed it and I am relieved that I don't have to send this one to the recycle bin.

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments