Golden Light

Gallery: AvianPosted January 25, 20181,818 views8 comments

My favorite waterfowl subject, the Bufflehead. As most of you know, the Bufflehead is a very wary species. I try continuously to get close to these guys. Usually, I am not very successful. Today, I put up some camo fabric around me and some nearby bushes on the edge of the lake. At first, there were no ducks close by. I sat and waited close to two hours as the Buffleheads slowly moved toward my position. I was rewarded with some relatively close captures of these guys swimming and diving in the late afternoon light. Processed with Lightroom, Photoshop and Lightzone. Comments and critiques welcome.

Canon 7D Mark II
Canon 200-400 f4 L IS
f5.6
1/1000s
Focal Length 560mm (Teleconverter Engaged)
ISO 160

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on January 25, 2018 at 9:29 AM

Jerry: Your patience paid off! This is a very nice image of the bufflehead. Nice light, nice water, love the iridescence. Nice capture. Nicely done!

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 25, 2018 at 11:31 AM

Lovely, Jerry. The whites are perfect and I love the iridescence. A very cute head turn.

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

Comment posted by Allen Brooks on January 25, 2018 at 11:44 AM

Excellent. The detail is great and you seem to have caught all the iridescent colors on the bufflehead. Nice head turn and the color of the water adds to the image.

Registered on July 27, 2011, 262 Posts, 2597 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on January 25, 2018 at 4:11 PM

A difficukt subject in my experience, both in terms of getting within camera range and finding an exposure that captures the range of tones. This is very nice and I'd be happy to have something on the species this good.

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

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on January 25, 2018 at 7:51 PM

Jerry, the comp is excellent having generous lead-in space for the bird's pose. The iridescent feathers really set this off.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on January 26, 2018 at 5:10 PM

Beautiful image Jerry. Nothing else to say! devil

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

Comment posted by David Rowe on January 27, 2018 at 5:09 AM

Another wonderful shot, Jerry. I love the bird’s colorful attire – it’s a pity we don’t have these birds here to lighten our current dreadfully drab winter. The composition is excellent and the exposure is well managed. You may care to check the focal point - the shoulder feather plumage and dark V appear to me to be the sharpest region of the image.
David

Registered on December 20, 2013, 133 Posts, 286 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Williams on January 27, 2018 at 11:21 AM

Love the colors in the iridescent feathers Jerry. Beautiful light, nice detail, even in the whites.

Registered on December 28, 2010, 636 Posts, 3499 Comments