Merganser

Since birds seem to be the theme lately, here is a Merganser shot I took at Lake Crescent in the ONP. There are a few things I wish I had time to change but it is what it is. I have a lot to learn about shooting birds.


Lake Crescent, Olympic National Park
Oct. 2009
Nikon D200 w/80-400 Lens
Manual 1/10 f/6.7 ISO100

Tim, nice catch. It's always a challenge when wildlife blends so well with the environment. I like the positioning of the Merganser and the rock in the foreground as an offset. I see a tiny bit of haloing around the head, but that's very minor and easily cleaned up. The image as a whole captures a nice mood. Congrats.

Thanks David! I see what you mean. There was a light fog blowing across the lake. I did see this and decided to leave it there but it is a little distracting and poor judgement call on my part.

One problem with the digital darkroom is that we all frown on haloing, whether it was natural or not. I've had several photos where I've had to reduce a cloud "halo," just because it looked like a processing artifact, as well. Great pose and environment Tim!

Hey, this was a Merganser Angel.

Halo-ing has never bothered me..."nonphotograpers" don't seem to care and often appreciate our photographs more than we do. The strength of this pic is the pose and attitude of the merganser and knowing the difficult exposure challenge.