The Chase

[gail bisson]

Common Mergansers.
I have been trying all winter to get a good shot of this behavior. Whenever one of the mergansers catches a large fish, the others chase the successful fisher for 2 to 3 minutes. I initially thought it was all a chase to try and steal the fish but I have noticed that the "victor" has more than enough time and opportunity to swallow the fish. I think some of this is a "show off" behavior as well as a real chase for the fish.
I am not thrilled with this shot but it is the best that I have so far.
The angle of light, direction of the chase, head angles and how cold it is continues to dictate my keepers. It was - 18C when I got this shot.
Canon 1DX 600mm and 1.4x III
ISO 400
SS 1/2000 @ F 7.1
PP: Lightroom sliders -clarity at 20, vibrance at 15, saturation 5, crop as a panorama ( 90% FF on the horizontal). Then to Photoshop for levels, Shadows and Highlights, no NR as I wanted to keep all the water drops sharp, DE at 2% and Tonal Contrast at 5% for midtones and shadows and 0 for highlights.
USM to JPEG
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
gail

[William Dickson]

Nice image Gail. You captured this behavioural shot perfectly :cheers:

[Glenn Conlan]

Great capture and timing, the low angle is very nice. Thanks for explaining what you did in post processing, when you apply that much clarity doesn't is darken some of the detail?

Glenn

[douglas hayes]

LV the action shot. Only-18, hope ya got *electric* socks. Mergies are tough; fast, dark heads, white necks and can be jumpy. I like the edit for the light conditions-good job. I might try narrowing the crop even more.

[Grace Scalzo]

Very pleasing and fun image. Is that a flouder? Might lower the contrast just a fraction.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent action shot, good story, and I really like the framing, Gail.

[Frank Schauf]

Great action and nice deep shooting position.

[gail bisson]

Great capture and timing, the low angle is very nice. Thanks for explaining what you did in post processing, when you apply that much clarity doesn't is darken some of the detail?

Glenn
Hi Glenn,
Yes, you are right. When I review yours and Graces' thoughts on the shot I think I overdid the clarity slider and will rework this. Better yet, I will try again for a better shot in softer light.
Gail

[Tim King]

lots of action in this but I wish the birds were closer as it would be more of an interactive "chase"
The BG and FG are nice and smooth but the contrast on the subjects are a bit much, but an easy fix. Fine job.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

The title works well in this one. Lots of great action, light and the pano crop works well also. I would not change a thing.

[David Salem]

Glad you got the shot that you were working for. Looks great with the water flying and the ducks paddling across the water. Love the pano comp and the fact that he has a flounder.
Yes to a slight reduction in contrast. Although I use the clarity slider allot, I rarely add more than 10 points as it can darkening things up a bit too much and can decrease detail in the blacks. Just a thought:S3: Well done Gail.