American Coot

[Joe Senzatimore]

Got out for a short while today at a local duck pond. These are tough to expose for. I wanted to hold detail in the darks so I guess thats why the bill is a bit hot. Trying to find a middle ground. Any ideas???

400 ISO f5.6 at 1/500th

[Dave Blinder]

Great pose, colors, sharpness, and HA Joel. I'm not good at figuring out if the whites are too hot or not. I think conventional wisdom on birds like this is to expose a bit to the left and focus on preserving the lighter areas first.

[Adams Serra]

Hi Joe, i believe cloudy days would be a option.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yes, an overcast day would be super for this subject...or very early/late evening on a sunny day. By the looks of the blacks here, it looks like you could have dialed in about 1/3 to 1/2 stop less exposure...perhaps that would have been just enough to give some data to work with on the bill during RAW conversion. I'm finding the subject rather low in the frame - pointing your lens lower would have been good. There are some cloning marks visible, especially within the top half of the image.