Common Merganser Take Off

[gail bisson]

Canon 1DX
600mm and 1.4X
1/3200 f 9
ISO 800
95% FF - had to add 3 % canvas to the top after correcting for rotation.
PP: Added canvas, levels, NR to BG, DE at 3% to merganser and USM to JPEG
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail

[Mike Landwehr]

A great action shot, Gail. Wonderfully low POV. I really like the upraised wings, the bright orange foot against the blue water, and the water splash. The head looks just slightly unnatural on my monitor. Perhaps it is slightly over-sharpened, but I suspect it's because the orange beak is so much darker than the bright orange foot.

[Grace Scalzo]

Fantastic! Love the angle of take off toward you and that trailing splash. You got nice and close to this usually uncooperative species and made some great images from this opportunity.

[ramesh anantharaman]

Brilliant Action and love low angle and feet and wing position. tack sharp and beautiful exposure. Just a thought- would removing the second reflection (dimmer catch light) on the eye make it better ?? Just wondering. Overall a powerful image. the part i like best is the way the black heads pops from the dark blue BG... Oh and Have to say what brilliant light...... as we say here in India "Wah" meaning wow :S3:

[Thinus Schoeman]

Hi Gail, what a great action shot, I would have loved if it was mine. I can't make up my mind if the whites below the head and on the right wing washed out a bit or not. Beautiful colors and overall very well exposed and sharp shot. The comp works for me as well. F9 was a good choice as most of the bird is in focus. Then you got the catch light in the black eye as well! Congratulations!

[Raybel Robles]

An amazing image! Congrats!

[Joseph Przybyla]

You nailed it Gail...

[gail bisson]

I love all these extra eyes.
Ramesh- i agree that getting rid of the extra catchlight is a good idea. Thank you
Thinus ( cool name!) I agree the whites are "hot" on the shoulder. On the RAW I am at 237.
Mike- I think that what you are seeing in the head is the way the shadow is playing on the neck However I did decrease the amount of sharpening by 5% on the head. I can't see much difference though.Can you?
So here is my repost with your suggestions incorporated. I did a linear burn on the whites with a feathered selection and cloned out the extra catch light.
Thank you all for your help,
Gail

[Randall Farhy]

Gail- This is another top notch shot, I like this entire series! -so when does the Merganser Workshop begin? :)

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, I can just hear that shutter going off a million to the second when this fellow took off - great timing. Love the raised wings, tack sharp, and love the bright foot kicking off the water for the take off. You repost rocks. Well captured.

[ramesh anantharaman]

Splendid repost.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Gorgeous light and a nice pose. The bird angle is just perfect and so is your shooting angle. Nice RP.
I like the room on the left for the bird to run/fly into, but if you do have more of the nice, sharp splash behind, it could possibly be interesting to see that with the bird placed more to the left.
Well done Gail. This is my favorite of your merganser series. Looking forward to more.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Wow, another great capture from your series. What's most impressive is that this is 95% full frame! To me, that shows the skill you have to get this image ... well deserved!

[dankearl]

I also would like the splash behind the splash....
Repost looks great.

[Satish Ranadive]

Spectacular image with wonderful IQ.
Love every thing in the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

[Rob Melone]

I can view this series all day Gail!

[Frank Schauf]

Great action and nice deep shooting position.

[Marina Scarr]

Sorry I missed this image on the first go around. What a killer image, Gail and I really like the RP with the added space on the right with the splash.