Hooded Merganser

[Raymond Barlow]

D300 / 200-400 VR + 1.7 TC @ 650 mm
1/1000 sec, f 7.1, iso 320
Gitzo Tripod, Kantana Gimbel Head, natural light, slight crop

Taken yesterday while testing a new tripod head.

[Rohan Kamath]

lovely exposure and details...nice eye contact too..

-Cheers,
Rohan
__________________________________________________
Conservation begins at HOME... We CAN make a difference...

[Randy Stout]

Ray:

A lovely fellow, nice angle,eye and background.

As usual for these guys, unless the light is incredibly soft you just can't get the entire bird perfectly exposed. To my eye, part of the whites are overexposed, without much detail. Not large areas, just enough to get my attention. I struggle with this situation with loons all the time.

Very nice overall.

What do you think about the new head?

Cheers


Randy

[Raymond Barlow]

Ray:

A lovely fellow, nice angle,eye and background.

As usual for these guys, unless the light is incredibly soft you just can't get the entire bird perfectly exposed. To my eye, part of the whites are overexposed, without much detail. Not large areas, just enough to get my attention. I struggle with this situation with loons all the time.

Very nice overall.

What do you think about the new head?


Randy


Thanks for the comments

Hey Randy.. to be honest, I am a represetative for Pro Media Gear, and I had better be careful what I say in forums, so please have a look on my personal blog for a short report... http://raymondbarlow.blogspot.com/

I hate having threads deleted!, but with your permission I can chat a little about it.

Cheers

[Harshad Barve]

I love this species ,
Nice techs, lovely details and BG
TFS

[Kiran Poonacha]

Beautiful one raymond, loved the light, nice details and the broken reflection works well.. congrats..

[Jim Crosswell]

I like this image Ray. The fall colours in the reflection compliment the brown in the Merganser. I only have one shot of this species but not this good.

[Julie Kenward]

I've never been lucky enough to catch up to this bird here in Missouri (although I've heard they hang out here). Agree that some of the whites look a bit blown - you might try a selective linear burn or go back and adjust the RAW file if you can. Other than that...gorgeous image.

[James Salywoda]

Awesome looking Hoodie Ray sweet shot bro..... Its been awhile since I've seen this species..

[Ofer Levy]

This is awesome Ray! You nailed the difficult exposure! If anything I would like to see some more of this lovely BG and maybe a slight CCW rotation.

[Matt Vosniak]

Anyone who gets a great shot of a hoodie I am jealous of Raymond. I can never seem to get within a country mile of one. The low profile pose you grabbed here is quite good. Nice job nailing this fella. I agree with the thought on a slight amount of CCW rotation.