Harlequin!

Harlequin!

While the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Sanctuary is most famous for its bears, there are lots of other "not-a-bear" species found there too! And what you're looking at here is one of my favorite feathered "not-a-bear" species - a male Harlequin Duck in full breeding plumage. Because the narrow Khutzeymateen inlet is bordered by steep, forested ridges and mountains the reflections off the surface of the water almost always contains rich and vibrant green hues. Which means that you end up with some pretty sweet backdrops for anything that might be on or near the surface of the water - like a swimming bear or a duck in flight!

Subject: Male Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) just after take-off
Location: Khutzeymateen Inlet, northern Great Bear Rainforest, BC, Canada
Camera: Nikon D4s
Lens: Nikkor 400mm f2.8 VR. Hand-held from floating zodiac. VR on and in "Normal" mode. Group Area AF mode.
Exposure: 1/2000s @ f5.6; ISO 200. -1.3 stop compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting (to preserve highlight details in the white patches on the duck)
Crop: Moderate - this is about 85% of full frame

This one required a fair amount of work in post-processing to balance out the exposure, but beyond that (and sharpening) there was nothing more done to the image. More details about the image (and the species, and the post-processing) can be found here on my website:

http://www.naturalart.ca/galleries/latest/detail_2.html.

Comments and critiques welcomed - probably best to view the larger version prior to doing so!

Cheers...

Brad