Barrow's Goldeneye hen

Gallery: AvianPosted January 14, 2018292 views3 comments

I was very fortunate to have this Barrow's Goldeneye hen pass so close to me. Light was reasonably good and I believe the sun could have been out. This is a late afternoon shot. There was a lot of white foamy debris in the water. I did clone away a few distracting foam dots. I know some people like to completely remove all of them but that seems extreme. I think some of them give some texture and depth of field support to the image.

Iso-800, 200-500mm at 500 mm, F11, 1250th, handheld, D 500, about 75% of full frame, ACR 10, Topaz adjust, TK sharpening action at 40%

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 14, 2018 at 6:14 PM

Excellent detail and exposure, David. Sweet looking water and some beautiful light on the duck. A very sweet image.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on January 14, 2018 at 10:03 PM

That golden eye makes a really nice reflection, too. I love the swell of the water.

I understand what you mean about the white debris/dots, but if this were mine I think I would remove all the background dots. I think the clarity of your focus area is so beautifully separated from the background water that you don't really need the dots for depth of field support.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on January 16, 2018 at 4:59 PM

Nice detail and reflection here David, this one looks slightly oversharpened to me. Almost all Barrow's Goldeneye females have a fair bit of orange on the beak, so my guess would be female Common Goldeneye here although occasionally the bill color doesn't work (it's possible to get a female Barrow's with a dark bill and conversely a female Common with an orangeish bill.
devil

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