A Perfect Landing

[Doug Brown]

I caught this Bufflehead Drake at the moment of impact. The lines in the water created by the tail feathers give the image some added visual impact IMO.

http://birdwhisperer.smugmug.com/Animals/Birds/BPN/20091210-MG4902-Bufflehead-4x6/742951037_eTFHy-O-2.jpg

Canon 7D, 600mm + 1.4x, f/5.6, 1/5000, ISO 640, -1/3 EC, hand held

[Stu Bowie]

Doug, lovely skiing moment, and I like how the feet are turned up. you both couldnt have asked for calmer water, and love the outspread wings. Interesting colours on the head, and well timed and captured.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Absolutely first class, I like the timing, the composition and the superb colours, DOF just right - congrats!

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

beautiful pose,wing position,moment!

[Vinay Lakshman]

wow nice angle & wing spread . TFS

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

I thought the same thing as Stuart. Looks like he is water skiing. Beautiful capture in beautiful lighting and superb timing. Well done Doug.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Superb shot Doug. Your exposure on these buffleheads is always spot on. Loved those lines made by the tail.

[Myer Bornstein]

Superb lovely shot great colors Buffleheads are hard to photo

[Lise De Serres]

I really like this one, what a great moment you've captured!
The lightning is superb giving good details in the whites!
Great shot Doug!

[arash_hazeghi]

Very nice touch down Doug, love the trail on the water, would crop a bit from the bottom.

[Arthur Morris]

As above, you are one sick puppy and this is one killer ski-landing image. I think that the head could use a bit more sharpening.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Killer image. allcomponents seem spot on. Beautiful light.

[Morkel Erasmus]

simply stunning Doug. on all accounts.

[Ofer Levy]

Awesome action captured!! Can't comment on the techs as I am using an uncalibrated old monitor at my parents place in Israel. However, I feel that the reflection doesn't add enough to the image to justify including all of it. Would consider cropping tighter - leaving about half of the reflection out - including the bright area of the chest.

[Ted Willcox]

Awesome image Doug. All this action and you even manage to get the reflection in. Well done
Ted

[Duane Noblick]

The first thing that came to mind when I saw this image was Weeeee! Great timing. I love the wings out, chest out and head back.

[Stephen Stephen]

Great capture her Doug. I love the flared wings and the breaking feet. This bird's puffed chest makes him look like one very proud drake. ;)

[Danny J Brown]

Hi Doug - This is a beautiful and whimsical shot, the kind you see in "Best Of" issues. I love it.

[Dan Busby]

It's all been said Doug. I am glad Artie mentioned the softness on the head as it seems a bit soft to me too. But that seems very picky for such an outstanding shot. You really have that 7D performing!

[Arthur Morris]

It's all been said Doug. I am glad Artie mentioned the softness on the head as it seems a bit soft to me too. But that seems very picky for such an outstanding shot. You really have that 7D performing!

When I look at the image from 27 inches the head looks mega sharp. From a foot with my glasses cleaned, I do see a need for some sharpening. Doug, get back to the US safely. Hope that you do not have any problems at JFK and hope that you had a great trip.

[Aidan Briggs]

Hey Doug. Let me first say that this is the best duck image I have seen in a long, long time. It is definitely beyond me. I did notice a few things that I thought could be improved in PS. I took the liberty of displaying them here. First I selected the whites toned them down a bit and reduced the saturation in the yellow channel so the underbelly wouldn't look as dirty. Then I inversed the selection and brought up the midtones a bit. Then I selected the darkest areas and reduced the contrast in curves to show a bit more detail. I also used a quick mask to get rid of the last ripple in the reflection that was almost touching the bottom edge. Finally I sharpened the head a bit more.

Hope you like it.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Greating timing here bhai, loved the pose and the puffed colourful haed adds well here, also the water droplets add very well...

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Even though the reflection is not perfect, it balances the frame for me. Love it Dougie! Perfect timing and good techs, as one would expect. :)

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Doug. Let me first say that this is the best duck image I have seen in a long, long time. It is definitely beyond me. I did notice a few things that I thought could be improved in PS. I took the liberty of displaying them here. First I selected the whites toned them down a bit and reduced the saturation in the yellow channel so the underbelly wouldn't look as dirty. Then I inversed the selection and brought up the midtones a bit. Then I selected the darkest areas and reduced the contrast in curves to show a bit more detail. I also used a quick mask to get rid of the last ripple in the reflection that was almost touching the bottom edge. Finally I sharpened the head a bit more. Hope you like it.

Hey Aidan, Great repost. I particularly like what you did with the belly and the head reflection. You made a great image even better. See you in Reno next month. :)

[Dave Barnes]

This one was captured just at the right time. I wont say wow but that is how I feel about it.
PP by Aidan is great. must agree with AM.
PS: the colours on his head are just sick.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Doug, I took the liberty of downloading the image and just applying a little Shadows and Highlights - I have now removed the image from my PC.
Aidan, I am still a bit of a novice compared to you guys but I did not see much difference between the use of Shadows and Highlights compared to your technique, I suspect however that your method is more selective and as you said you desaturated the yellow - could you please briefly explain how you did it?
Thanks, Jon

[James Salywoda]

Fantastic Landing Pose!!!!

[Aidan Briggs]

Hi Jonathan. S/H would yield similar results, and is quicker, but I perfer to heep my S/H usage to a minimum because it can cause halos if overused. I just use levels instead. I desaturated the yellows by first selecting the belly area with a quick mask. Then I went to image>adjustments>Hue/Saturation. On the Hue/saturation menu, I selected the yellow channel. Then I moved the saturation slider to the left by about -30 points.

Artie- see you there.

Sorry Doug. I don't mean to hijack your thread.

[Todd Frost]

Hope your not getting to big of a head with this image Doug. It just does not get much better than this so you might as well sell your equip now and let the rest of us catch up:). Its all been said above. This deserve a GREAT SHOT ! TFS
Todd

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for the kind words everyone! The repost is a nice improvement Aidan!

[Matthew Studebaker]

wow - what a beautiful moment and perfect post. I do like Mr. Brigg's edit as well.