I find it notoriously difficult to get a good photograph of these guys. The combination of the dark feathers and bright white beaks, and the fact they never seem to stop moving has always seem to leave me with disappointing images. I am pretty happy with this one.
I think the soft, front lighting was the key here. Anything other than that, and I can imagine an exposure getting tricky with these guys' natural high contrast.
In my days before photography, I used to duck hunt quite a bit, and have sat through innumerable hours with coots rummaging around in my decoy spread. In all those years of hunting, I never realized that they had red eyes until now. You learn something new every day!
Posted by John Williams on January 15, 2010 at 2:01 AM
I hear you. I've chased black and white birds before (e.g. Bufflehead) and they can be extremely difficult to contain the dynamic range in good lighting. This one worked out well, maybe even slightly too bright overall. I might try darkening it just a tad? I like the contrast of one bird straight on and the other in profile.
Yes, Ryan, very difficult subject, ubiquitous as they are. Good shot of them. Love the head turn toward the viewer on the one in front. Nice natural surroundings, too. The other things I've learned about them are how huge their feet are (for walking on muddy shoreline, perhaps?), how rotund they look out of water, and that there is a red spot on the forehead that matches the eye color.
Getting really nitty about the image, the darker post is better except maybe lighten the eyes and the red spot just a wee bit. Perfecto! And I'll reiterate that this is really is a great shot.
Posted by David Bostock on January 15, 2010 at 4:22 PM
Ryan, these are hard birds to photograph because the fool the exposure system every time. Fortunately, it over exposes, so it's kinda like exposing to the right...histogram-wise that is.
I like the second one because it's darker, but the blacks around the heads are now blocked up. I would recommend lightening up some again and then try darkening the mids...one way would be to add a selective color layer and then darken the "neutrals" color. Just a thought.
Discussion
10 repliesCanon 40D 100-400L @340mm
ISO 400 f6.7 @ 1/750s
In my days before photography, I used to duck hunt quite a bit, and have sat through innumerable hours with coots rummaging around in my decoy spread. In all those years of hunting, I never realized that they had red eyes until now. You learn something new every day!
Getting really nitty about the image, the darker post is better except maybe lighten the eyes and the red spot just a wee bit. Perfecto! And I'll reiterate that this is really is a great shot.
I like the second one because it's darker, but the blacks around the heads are now blocked up. I would recommend lightening up some again and then try darkening the mids...one way would be to add a selective color layer and then darken the "neutrals" color. Just a thought.
JG