Eider in Flight

[William Dickson]

Canon 1DX
f/4 500mm with 1.4
f/7.1
1/3200
ISO 640

We are getting some good late evening light here now, so I am making the most of it. Another I captured from the shore in my hometown.

Will

[John Mack]

Great flight pose on the bird. Exposure looks good in the blacks and the whites.

[Bill Dix]

Terrific wing position, and nice detail. I imagine this is a tough bird to expose properly in sunlight, but you did very well here.

[Paul Burdett]

Lovely shot with excellent detail. Was this hand held?

[John Whaley]

A great in flight capture Will. Perfect down wing position, tack focus and good feather detail. I would have expected to find the rocks in the background distracting but they actually make the image more interesting to me. Well done.

[Steve Kaluski]

Nice one Will, looks like you had some good light for a change, based on the techs. Personally I might have blown some blue in at the tail end to separate it from the OOF rocks.

TFS
Steve

[gail bisson]

Eider looks great- nice and sharp and great wing position.
Lovely light.
I am not crazy about the OOF rocks- they overwhelm the eider.
I like Steve's suggestion of cloning out the rock around the tail,
Gail

[Isaac Grant]

Ok William I am going to be super picky here. The bird looks very good and you have nice details. Great wing position. However the bird is angled slightly away from us and I always find these images less engaging. Also the large rocks in the background are distracting, both in general and where they intersect the bird. Especially the large black area below the tail. I've never had a chance to shoot these birds with the sun at my back anywhere in NY so I am envious of your opportunities, but I think this is one of those shots that just shows how difficult it is to get all of the elements to line up perfectly in bird photography.

[David Policansky]

You know, Isaac Grant is being super picky but I'm having a hard time disagreeing with his comments (except the one about the angle, which seems fine to me; at least, it doesn't bother me). The exposure and detail seem excellent, though.

[Arthur Morris]

Killer EXP, SH, and wings down flight pose. For me, a bit more room behind the bird would have been nice. Not only is the rock below the tail problematic but the two really dark areas are not doing you any favor.

with love, artie

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Will, gotta love this flight pose with the perfect full down stroke of the near wing. Excellent sharpness, well exposed, and I'm fine with the BG. I would only blend in the two darker spots in the LRC.

[William Dickson]

Thanks for the interesting comments. I have other Eider in flight i managed on the same evening. I chose this one to post, as I thought it was different and gave something to the BG. some like it, some don't, but, thats what this site is all about. I agree that cloning away the rock around the tail of the bird, and also cloning out the 2 black areas on the rocks would improve the image. Yes Paul, handheld, I always handhold when doing flight photography.

Will