Hooded Merganser with Oversized Snack

[Lyle Gruby]

Shot this guy at a wildlife refuge in East Arkansas from my homemade wooden skimmer thing with wimberley head attached. I was hiding on the bank and this extremely wary fellow started swimming toward me. He got just outside my shooting range and dove. When he surfaced, he was within about 15 feet with his catch! He heard the shutter going off, eyeballed me (thus giving a good HA), and immediately flew off. A little challenging to keep the focus dot on his head since my viewfinder kept fogging up from my breath, but I was happy with it. This is FF except leveling.


Techs:
D7000
200-400 with 1.4 @490mm
ISO 500
f/5.6
1/1000

[dankearl]

I would tone down the fish a tad and move the duck back a bit out of the center of the frame.
Cool to get this little guy with a fish!

[Randy Stout]

Lyle:

Great action, dynamic lighting. Wet feathers are always a challenge, as you tend to lose detail, and it makes sharpening a challenge.

If you haven't already, I would try to lighten the shadows a bit on the bird only.

Nice catch by both of you.

Cheers

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

Lucky you to have captured this amazing behavior. I wonder who was more shocked, you or the bird? I would take a tad off of the bottom and left. I am not seeing too many details in the head and wonder if your focus was off just a tad or if it's motion blur.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Lyle - nice low pov and fortunate for you to capture it with the fish. Good suggestions above to take this up a notch. I would also run a round of NR on the bg.

TFS,
Rachel

[Robert Holguin]

Great action shot!.
Great head angle, terrific low shooting angle, the huge fish is big bonus, and great comp.
Good suggestions given above.
Well done.

[Lyle Gruby]

Thanks for all the feedback. I tried and liked all suggestions. I also removed the blue color cast which I think improved the image. The softness is there because the duck is so physically close, the focal length, and his body was at a different angle than his head due to him swimming off. The focus dot was active and on his eye. The eye and everything on or around that focal plane is sharp but everything else degrades more quickly than expected d/t the physical distance, focal length, aperture, body angle. Thanks everyone!