Tree Stander

Gallery: AvianPosted March 15, 201490 views8 comments

This is the same Wood Duck drake right before he got an earful. I liked the one leg pose. It was difficult to get a clear shot of him through all the branches. The OOF branch above him detracts a bit. Processed using Photoshop CS3 and LightZone. Comments and critiques welcome.

Canon 7D
Canon 200-400 f4 L IS
f5.6
1/400s
ISO 100
Focal Length 560mm (teleconverter engaged)

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on March 15, 2014 at 12:40 PM

A nice shot of this woodie drake. Nice and sharp and the branch over his head doesn't bother me very much.

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

Comment posted by William Bickle on March 15, 2014 at 1:50 PM

Hello Jerry

Nice capture and well done to isolate this guy from surroundings!
the colours are amazing , so bright and clear. The whites on his head area are approaching too bright and blues are showing some halo on branches .
Like the one foot,

Bill

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on March 15, 2014 at 3:01 PM

For my money, male Wood Ducks are among the toughest birds to properly expose. Get the blacks right and you blow the whites and vice versa. I've spent entire mornings with Woodies in front of me struggling with the problem. You've got a decent compromise here, but there's significant loss of detail in the blacks and the white stripes are high.

I share your pain...

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

Comment posted by Rick Cloran on March 15, 2014 at 3:53 PM

Nice resting pose. The detail is super as always. The branch doesn't bother me, but there seems to be a blue / cyan fringe along the bottom of it in spots. It doesn't seem to be uniform enough to be CA, but it might be worth checking. The whites in the head and on the wing bar still seem a bit hot.

Registered on April 6, 2004, 119 Posts, 1989 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on March 15, 2014 at 7:21 PM

Woodies are a very difficult shot under the best of circumstances. I see the blown whites and the lack of detail in the blacks, as well as the chromatic aberration under the branch, but these are minor and (hopefully) correctable. If you have a RAW image, both are correctable in Lightroom. Overall, this is a good shot, and closer than I have ever been able to get.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on March 16, 2014 at 1:14 PM

Nice species, maybe you could try once with overcast skies or with a very diffuse light - see if both blacks and whites can be captured. In all however good work - as Jim points out quite a challenge