Wetland Cooties

American Coot at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge today. iso 100, f8, 60 sec. 500mm plus 1.7 telextender.

Great job on this shot, David. You did well in bringing out the most detail you could from that dark body of this coot. My only nit might be that highlight line of the water going through the coot's head, but perhaps you could tone that down a bit in PSCS.

Wow. Nice one. You've got his face nicely and some nice detail in his eye. I like the slightly ruffled feathers on his wing too. I wish his tail were a little sharper.

The tan that's pretty typical this time of year down there makes his head stand out nicely.

I'm surprised you're shooting at 850mm (plus whatever crop factor you've got...). I didn't think coots were that shy. Of course I don't have any pictures of coots , so I've gotta admit I don't know what I'm talking about.

If you cropped to a portrait (including about half of his back so that dark grass was just out of the frame) this might work pretty well too.

What do you think of the the 500 + the 1.7x? (I have both a 500 and a 1.7, but my wife normally carries the 1.7.)

Sean

Nice one. I would like it better if the bird was looking or facing more towards the camera. I realize you can't tell your subject where to look. You usually have to take what you get. Cool shot none the less!

Thanks for the critiques. Here is another shot from the same shoot. Unfortunately, the head is not as sharp but it is looking at the camera. The tail is sharper. With respect to the 500 plus 1.7 combo,, I really like it. Wide open, I get f6.7. I had been shooting with a Gitzo 1348 & Wimberly head but there was too much lens shake. I just got a Gitzo GT5540LS which is the new incarnation of the 1548, only lighter, faster, more stable, and less expensive. I am still learning to use it but it does make an obvious difference with a long lens. This image is about 20% of the original frame. It is cloudy. The subject is about 60 feet from the lens. I am using a Nikon SB-800 with a Better Beamer but I am not sure it made any difference. At 60th sec. because of the flash and low light conditions, movement of the subject compromises sharpness. I only shoot at iso 100.

Hi David - I still prefer the first shot but only because the head (and eye) are much sharper. I can see shooting only ISO 100 for landscapes but for birds I tend to see most photographers pushing the iso up to 400 or even 800 depending on conditions so that they can get the shutter speed necessary for preventing movement blur. At 400 my Canon 20D yields shots that are not noisy providing they are well exposed and any small amount of noise is fairly easily taken care of using Noise Ninja or NeatImage.

I probably should have posted this rather than the second one above. So here goes. Same stats.

" 'nough to make one believe in Big Glass.....good captures, I love the sharp feathers at & near the water line.....I think the warmer cast of the last one is preferable but that's subjective....maybe you don't want a photo of a waterfowl in cold winter water to look too warm.....

I like that last one best. This is a hard bird to expose correctly, with the black and white. You did well.