Long-Tailed Duck+Repost

Gallery: AvianPosted January 16, 2012124 views5 comments

Usually these birds are too far off shore in Lake Ontario for a reasonable shot with my 560 mm lens. However, today a few individuals decided to come closer. It was later in this winter morning and the water didn't appear particularly colorful with the available light. So, despite that we don't see much of the bird's head, I found this to be the most interesting of the shots today. In addition to showing the origin of this duck's name, we can see plenty of splashing water, nicely spread tail feathers and two big feet.

All comments welcome.

1D Mark IV, 400 mm f/5.6, 1.4x TC, hand held: ISO 500, 1/1000s, f/10, -1/3 EV, 11.9 MP (74% of 16 MP full frame), NR, exposure adjustment, sharpening.

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on January 16, 2012 at 6:18 PM

Unusual and unique.I like the graphics of this.Some more space at the bottom would be nice but it is a solid image as posted.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on January 16, 2012 at 6:34 PM

neat shot, Steve. I like the pose, the flying water, the texture in the water, and being able to see the head a little under the water. I agree that a little more room for the head at the bottom would be good if you have it. I'd clone that little reddish dot in the middle of the bird's back on the right edge of the water splash. nice job exposing this.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on January 16, 2012 at 11:10 PM

Thank you Richard and Brian for your very perceptive comments. I did have enough space at the bottom but there was something floating in the water that was offering a distraction at the bottom. So, I added the missing portion to the bottom but cloned out the distraction. The red spot came as quite a surprise. I went back to the original and found it was even there before processing. It was quite enlightening to boost saturation to the maximum in an adjustment layer just to see what colors are present in this image: there is an incredible variety. I guess we are looking at light refraction effects. The red spot was the most obvious at normal saturations though and was easy to remove. [As an aside: I have some red-green color blindness. Lately I've started submitting printed images in competitions. My very first attempt was a monochrome b&w image. The judges practically threw it out because they could see some red in the bg. It was caused by the printer and completely invisible to me! ......and I thought monochrome would be safest for someone who is red-green challenged!)

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on January 17, 2012 at 11:23 AM

Unusual image, lots of energy..fun too

I like the repost best..It affords a better view of the rest of the bird underwater..
Well done Steve

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on January 17, 2012 at 6:06 PM

Cool shot Steve. Love the water plashing up and the glimpse of the bird underwater.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments