Texas Bufflehead Drake

Gallery: AvianPosted January 24, 2017139 views8 comments

I found a somewhat cooperative Bufflehead yesterday at my local lake. Still looking for that great flight capture, but this will have to do for now. I have said it before, but that white head patch is the most difficult to expose properly of any part of any bird I have ever photographed. Processed using Lightroom CC (2015) and Photoshop CC (2017) along with Light Craft's LightZone. Comments and critiques welcome.

Canon 1DX Mark II
Canon 200-400 f4 L IS
f6.3
1/2500s
Focal Length 560mm (Teleconverter Engaged)
ISO 320

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on January 24, 2017 at 10:24 PM

Good angle, detail and control of the whites. I have never bee successful taming the whites with this species. Good work!

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

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on January 25, 2017 at 1:26 AM

Great pose from this pretty fellow. Nice iridescence and sheen - often hard to catch.
From here, on laptop, all the whites are blown.. The viveza software will bring them down and recover some detail.
You are sure right - hard to overcome these bright whites.
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on January 25, 2017 at 11:26 AM

As best I can tell on my monitor, the whites all look okay except for maybe one strip on the top. I think I've said this before, but this is SUCH a cute duck.

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

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on January 25, 2017 at 11:43 AM

I've rarely been able to get within decent shooting range of this species here in AZ, and I have the same problem as Phil with controlling the whites.

The whites in your image are not blown (easy to confirm with a threshold layer in Photoshop), with the brightest spots reaching 240 or so. I suspect lack of local contrast within the whites (that keeps detail hard to detect) might be giving that impression to some viewers.

This is a very nice image of what for me is a difficult subject, and I'd be quite happy to have taken it.

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

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on January 25, 2017 at 11:51 AM

Looks great, Jerry. Nicely done! devil

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by Skip Layman on January 25, 2017 at 12:13 PM

I like the fact you captured the colors on the head so well. Nice shot of a very difficult subject. devil

Registered on November 1, 2003, 558 Posts, 1704 Comments

Comment posted by Julia Flanagan on January 26, 2017 at 1:45 PM

Ah Man! I love buffleheads and have never gotten anywhere close to capturing a decent image of them. I am so jealous! This is lovely and I think you nailed the exposure. Congrats!

Julie

Registered on November 13, 2003, 59 Posts, 986 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on January 29, 2017 at 5:01 AM

Simply a sweet portrait of this handsome fellow Jerry! You captured the iridescent colors beautifully.

Sweet One laugh

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