Harlequin Duck

[denise ippolito]

Canon 40D
500mm +1.4 ex
1/1000 sec. at f/5.6
ISO 640
-1/3 EV
Barnegat yesterday morn.
It was 16 degrees:eek:
My first Harlequin on a rock. I think it is a young one.
This is almost FF w/ a tiny bit of canvas to the top.

[Krijn Trimbos]

Congrats on getting your first on a rock. I have to try and see my first one still....:( Nice light, HT and colours! To bad the light angle wasn't the best, but there wasn't much you could have done about that seeing the pose of you subject. Nonetheless a great shot!

[paul leverington]

Hi Denise!

Some nice shots can be had from those rocks! This one has a nice look back and feet--big pluses. The harsher light looks like it was giving you a bit of a challenge as the whites don't quite look right(I'm looking at the white area in front of his eye as being not so clean of a white). Did you use shadow highlight to tone them down maybe?. Light-cloudy conditions for these guys during the day works sweet. The extra canvas added is obvious at the top Denise wtih the repeating patterns. Maybe grab some water from an adjacent shot? The eye looks a bit soft --did you have the focus point on the body? I find that f8 usually gives good enough DOF generally and at 1/1000 there was some head room. Maybe the water though would get to detailed at that point, a decision to be made--or do a dof composite. At any rate this shots getting me inspired to head over to barnegat again for some shooting! Now if only I could get my hands on a Mark IV.....

Paul

[Ryan Schain]

Very nice Denise! I like the sharpness, background and head angle. So many times with this species at this location the birds are shrouded in darkness from the shadows, and given that I feel you did an excellent job.

[denise ippolito]

Hi Denise!

Some nice shots can be had from those rocks! This one has a nice look back and feet--big pluses. The harsher light looks like it was giving you a bit of a challenge as the whites don't quite look right(I'm looking at the white area in front of his eye as being not so clean of a white). Did you use shadow highlight to tone them down maybe?. Light-cloudy conditions for these guys during the day works sweet. The extra canvas added is obvious at the top Denise wtih the repeating patterns. Maybe grab some water from an adjacent shot? The eye looks a bit soft --did you have the focus point on the body? I find that f8 usually gives good enough DOF generally and at 1/1000 there was some head room. Maybe the water though would get to detailed at that point, a decision to be made--or do a dof composite. At any rate this shots getting me inspired to head over to barnegat again for some shooting! Now if only I could get my hands on a Mark IV.....

Paul

Hi Paul, Thanks so much for the comments. The whites on the head that are not completely white are what makes me think this is a young Harley. I thought that was still some of his youth feathers-the brown feathers are not from my processing.
I will re- position the layer mask I used to add canvas-thanks.
I did shoot some that were f/8 and f/11, but this one was the best of the lot. Not great but my best of this species on a rock.


Krijn and Ryan , Thankyou both for your comments.

Here is a repost-I added a bit of sharpening to the eye and tried to fix added canvas-which was like opening a can of worms. I appreciate you all taking the time to help me get this right.

[Bonnie Block]

Nice catch, Denise! A challenge is what these guys are--and climbing about on the rocks is no easy task.
Great light. Agree that the added canvas layer could be improved.

[Stu Bowie]

Lovely light Denise, especially on the head, and I like the angled pose. Comp works well too. There are various ways of extending canvas, but to make sure patterns arent repeated, copy from part of the image that is no where near where you have extended, then go over again, so nothing looks the same.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Denise, the repost is much better....esp. the canvas part. loved the BG and the exposure a lot.

[Hendri Venter]

Denise I like the clarity and detail. Your capture angle also perfect. Congrats on a very nice 1st.

[Ted Willcox]

Hi Denise Nice light, nice head turn, nice and sharp a very pretty image. I might crop just a little from the top.
Ted

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Light looks good and you have a great pose and perfect HA. Comp is well balanced. Congrats and thanks for sharing.

[denise ippolito]

Thanks everyone for your kind comments and taking the time to look. I appreciate it.:)

[Harshad Barve]

beautiful image Denise , repost rocks:D
TFS

[LouBuonomo]

I like the repost and the light angle is OK in my book. 16 on the rocks, dedication..........
Lou

[James Salywoda]

Your minor tweaks fixed an already excellent shot Denise as always well done.

[denise ippolito]

Thankyou all for your kind comments. Much appreciated.
Peter, nice to see you on the forum.:)