Double Drake

Gallery: AvianPosted March 4, 2017126 views6 comments

I continue my quest for a great Bufflehead flight shot. While this one is still not stellar, it is pretty good AND has two drakes. The drakes of this species are extremely difficult to capture because of their speed. They are also difficult to expose properly because of that white head. 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
1/3200s
Focal Length 560mm (Teleconverter Engaged)
ISO 640

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on March 4, 2017 at 1:24 PM

Nice catch, although not quite sharp.
They are extremely hard to get in flight and expose well, for sure.
Sandy

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

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on March 4, 2017 at 9:18 PM

Wings up, wings down, beautiful water. I can't tell about the sharpness. It looks good to me.

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

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on March 5, 2017 at 4:39 PM

I really like the opposite poses, one with wing up and one with wing down here Jerry. I think it's not quite sharp, part of this may be a depth of field issue, maybe bumping the iso to 1000 or 1250 and stopping down to F8 or F9 would have helped. devil

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

Comment posted by David Schoen on March 5, 2017 at 7:07 PM

The way I see it, both beaks look pretty sharp. The rear bird looks like it's a little sharper than the forward bird. On my monitor the whites on the head are little overexposed compared to the whites on the belly of the rear bird. It may be that the birds are actually sharp enough but that the exposure is a little too much on the whites giving the appearance of soft focus. The water looks good. Once again I'm curious what percentage of full frame are we looking at here?

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on March 5, 2017 at 8:11 PM

Nice fight capture of this pair Jerry. The whites are a little hot but the sharpness looks decent to me. I am viewing on my tablet, I'll check it on my big monitor later. Nice work on a difficult shot.

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Gettle on March 6, 2017 at 2:29 PM

Great shot Jerry, one wings up and one wings down... perfect. These guys are tiny and fast.

Registered on November 29, 2016, 36 Posts, 111 Comments