Harlequin Duck

[denise ippolito]

Canon 40D
500mm +1.4 ex
1/1000 sec. at f/8
ISO 640
+1/3 EV
HH
Barnegat Lighthouse,
Monday,overcast

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Denise, loved the composition. Exposure looks very very good. The focus seems to be a tad behind the plane of the eye. He was probably swimming towards you.

What an awesome duck you folks got up there. Would love to see one some day.
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[Bill Dix]

Another good one, Denise. Interesting perspective on one of these beauties. I might be tempted to brighten the eye, maybe selectively sharpen it a tad.

[denise ippolito]

Kaustubh and Bill, I will have to keep trying to get better images of these ducks. I hope to get another chance soon. I will try to give it some more sharpening and see how that goes.Thankyou both for taking the time to comment.

[Paul Lagasi]

These ducks are special...every year we get a female or a juvenile male in the Ottawa River..but adults like this never...like the pose, comp...dof..congrats

[Joe Senzatimore]

Nice to know they are back. Will get there this winter for sure. Love the low angle on this. Were you laying in the rock jetty?

[Raymond Barlow]

this is really cool!! beautiful image, and the environment riding the wave.. awesome!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Another beauty Denise with excellent exposure. low angle and wonderful eye contact. Way to go !!!!! Thanks for sharing.

[denise ippolito]

Paul, Joe,Raymond and Judy-Thankyou all for your kind comments.Much appreciated.
Joe, I was belly down on a rock that seemed a bit lower than the rest of the rocks. Lucky for me it wasn't a slippery one.

[Arthur Morris]

Loverly, esp. the head turn. When you look at the wave lower right, it looks as if the image is not level. But if you look at the duck, it seems level. Looking at the ends of the vertical stripes on the side of the breast suggests that it is in need of some CW rotation.

[denise ippolito]

Thankyou Artie, I really couldn't tell. I was going back and forth. Good tip to use the stripes. Here is the repost.

[Arthur Morris]

The repost is easier on the eye but with that crazy wave on the lower right I do not think that it will ever look completely level...............................

[Ramon M. Casares]

I love this species, looks very nice to me and I loved the water waving :) Congratulaitons!

[Harshad Barve]

lovely species and image Denise , nice compo and repost looks better
TFS

[Ofer Levy]

Hi Denise, this is a lovely shot. Sharpness looks spot on to me. There is a slight reddish cast.

[Krijn Trimbos]

Very nice shot Denise, although I prefer your previous post with a bit more colour in the water. I love the species, headturn, comp. Well done!

[denise ippolito]

Thankyou all for taking the time to comment. I really do appreciate it.
Ramon, I like the wave too:)
Krijn, I hope to go back on a less overcast day and get some of the deep blues of the Atlantic.
Ofer, I will look into the color cast.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Denise this must be a very tough duck to expose, look at those whites and blacks! I too love the head turn and details. The wave is not distracting to me.

[Kiran Poonacha]

beautiful pose, the waves adds for me, nice HA and angle here.. congrats..

[denise ippolito]

Juan and Kiran, Thankyou both for taking the time to comment. It means alot.

[Jim Fenton]

You folks have all the good stuff down there in NJ this winter :)

Beautiful subject...I really like the pose. It looks as though sharpening is a hair underdone BUT...I also see noise so I'm not at all sure you could get away with additional sharpening.

My bet is that it would look fine in print.

[denise ippolito]

Jim, You are correct about the noise that is why I sharpened the way I did. I hope to have some better light next time out. Hope you can make it for the BPN GTG at Barnegat Lighthouse on Dec.19th. It would be a pleasure to meet you. Thankyou for your most helpful critiques. Much appreciated.