Lesser Scaup

[Isaac Grant]

I have been spending a bunch of time on my stomach this winter trying to photograph waterfowl. Have been successful in adding quite a few species to my list that I have not photographed before. This adult male Lesser Scaup was photographed in late evening light on beautiful calm water.

Nikon D850 and Nikon 600 F4E, ISO 640, F5.6, SS 1/3200. Mounted on my ground pod.

[dankearl]

Excellent view of this Duck, colors look nice, nice angle.
Very minor nit would be to get rid of the eye reflection.
It is not bright or sharp enough and just distracts.

[Stuart Edwards]

Outstanding shot Isaac! Having never seen these ducks in person , only in photos , this is by far the best I have ever seen. well done !Even if it was with a nikon :t3 ( just kidding of course lol)
I agree with Dan about the eye reflection.

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks Dan and Stuart. So funny what people like. I thought the eye was so cool and it even has the catchlight, but I bet consensus will be to lose it. Curious what others think.

Stu thank you for the compliment. I really appreciate it. All joking aside I am blown away by the quality of the files out of the D850 and the Nikon lenses. I have purchased the 600 f4 and the 500 5.6. Also have a zoom which I have not used yet. I can tell you that without question, the files out of this camera just crush anything else I have ever seen. Arash has said it many times since switching as well. The level of detail, the colors, the almost 3 dimensional look the files have is just outstanding to me. I literally decided to switch the instant that I compared the files with my Canon files. I mentioned it in a previous posting but I did some extensive testing with the 1dx2, the 5d4 and the d850. Along with friends we shot the same birds at the same time at the same settings and then compared the files. The results were not even close with regards to image quality. Now that is not to say that it is better at everything than Canon. The 5d4 has better high ISO abilities and the 1dx2 of course has a much faster frame rate. But the autofocus is better than those 2 cameras for sure and the image quality is much better in my opinion. When you get everything lined up just perfectly like with this Lesser Scaup image and the prior images I have posted of that Canvasback, when you are right down the barrel on the sun angle, when the sun is low in the sky and your subject is close, the resulting images just blow me away. I have a bunch of images like this one of many species. I will start to post some flight shots of these ducks as well that have just sick details. The kind of shot that I was never able to get with Canon (Oh man will Artie give me **** :Whoa!:) and that I have never seen out of any other camera.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Excellent Image. I love the background colors.

I would also remove the eye in the reflection as it is distracting me.

Thanks for sharing.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Lovely image, a serene look to the bird. Nice colors and detail. Thank you for sharing, Isaac.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the low angle, smooth water, IQ, HA and composition. I would also lose the eye reflection. Well done.

[Mike Poole]

Another nice duck Isaac - this is certainly a productive spot you've got going there. I don't mind the eye reflection, its unusual in that its so compressed towards the body but I don't see it as a distraction

Mike

[annmpacheco]

Super job here Isaac, vote the eye goes... Love the control of exposure, the colors on the head. superb.

[John Mack]

Very nice. Nailed this one.

[William Dickson]

Looking real good...Love the POV and detail. I really like the 'softness' of the water and the position of the duck

Will