American Wigeon

[Rob Melone]

Shot early morning from a bird blind on a lake in Cape May, NJ, this American Wigeon didn’t seem to be too affected by the extremely cold and windy conditions on that day. The wigeon was front lit as the sun came up over the beach.

Nikon D7000
Nikkor 300mm f/4 w/1.4x teleconverter
1/1600
f/5.6
ISO 400

Manual exposure
Beanbag

C & C are welcome!

[gail bisson]

Hi Rob,
A good solid image. The IQ looks good and you had very nice light.
I would add a bit more room on the LHS to give the tail a bit of breathing room.
The deep blue of the water gives a dramatic feel to the image.
I like the swells of the water but wish the bill had cleared the wave to give more separation.
Did you know you can post your images larger? 1200 X 900 and 400KB
Gail

[Rob Melone]

Thanks so much for commenting Gail! This is pretty close to full frame, but I'll see if I can squeeze more room on the LHS. I will also look at the other images in this series for a clear separation between the bill and water. This image is 900 pixels on the long side. For some reason, anything larger than that increased the file size beyond 400k, but I'll try again. Good to hear from you Gail. I’m new to BPN and the comments are really helpful!

[Rodney Flowers]

The lighting and pose looks good. The wigeon is nice and sharp. I agree that the bill blends in with the wave and would be better if it were above the wave.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Rob, love the detail on the wigeon, and especially the green patch on the head. I like the look of the choppy water, and agree with more room behind.

[Rob Melone]

Here is a shot from the same series where the bill is better separated from the water. This is pretty close to full frame, so sorry about the tight LHS. Thanks so very much Gail, Rodney and Stuart for your invaluable help!

[William Dickson]

Lovely image Rob. Similar to our widgeon here in Scotland apart from the head area :S3: Well done

139349

[Rob Melone]

Wonderful shot William. TFS!

[William Dickson]

Wonderful shot William. TFS! Thanks Rob, I think your one is better :S3: Sorry for posting the image on your thread, but I was just comparing the two different types of wigeon with you :cheers: