Scaup in Fiery-Red Morning Light

[Danny J Brown]

I photographed this hen scaup in a Mississippi River backwater lake this morning as the sun was rising. The magic light just washed the little gal in red. She swam about 100 yards to join the six diver decoys I had set out in front of my kayak. The shot is pretty much full frame, cropped a tiny bit for composition. Thanks.

Canon 40D; Canon 500/4 + 1.4TC; 1/400; f/5.6; +2/3 EC; Gitzo GT3530LS/Wimberley II from Wilderness Commander 120 Kayak (Camouflage) covered with cut-leaf camo fabric.

[Randy Stout]

Danny:

Lovely colors/light, well exposed, sharp, like the drops, head angle.

I might be tempted to clean up the catchlight a bit. I know a double catchlight is common in this type of shot, but I think it makes the eye look less sharp than it really is here.

Very sweet.

Cheers

Randy

[Danny J Brown]

Yes, like on wood ducks the eye can elude an otherwise tack sharp image! I went through all 25 or so keepers and found a few others with less of the eye artifact you speak of but I liked this pose and the light so I stuck with this one. I don't ever do any opthomology work on my birdies so we'll have to go with this. Thanks Randy.

DB

[Randy Stout]

Yes, like on wood ducks the eye can elude an otherwise tack sharp image! I went through all 25 or so keepers and found a few others with less of the eye artifact you speak of but I liked this pose and the light so I stuck with this one. I don't ever do any opthomology work on my birdies so we'll have to go with this. Thanks Randy.

DB

Danny:

As an ophthalmologist, I guess I am qualified to do eye work, and ethically I think it is OK to make it look like you saw it originally, sharp and not effected by the reflection artifacts.
Your choice of course.

Cheers

Randy

[Danny J Brown]

Uh, oh....as an opthamologist you probably noticed I spelled opthamology wrong.....sorry about that.:) I'm always amazed at the awesome "other careers" that BPNrs practice when not out chasing birds. Thanks, as always for your thoughtful suggestions and by the way........can you help me with this exotropic strabismus because I'm getting tired of looking at my 24" monitor with one eye just to compensate for the problem.:):)

DB

[Randy Stout]

Danny:

I am pretty used to interesting spellings of ophthalmology. Yes, there are some really interesting people on BPN, a world wide collection of talented people, yourself included.

Cheers

Randy

[Danny J Brown]

Danny:

I am pretty used to interesting spellings of ophthalmology. Yes, there are some really interesting people on BPN, a world wide collection of talented people, yourself included.

Cheers

Randy

I had to laugh because I actually spelled it wrong the second time. Funny!

DB

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Danny, what incredible light, and shooting from a kayak certainly pays off for that perfect perspective. Great pose and HA, and just love the warm colours and calm water. Well captured.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Wow, check out that light! Good details too. Perfect HA and I love the water drops, especially on the tail. I'm with Randy for the eye...but for me it looks sharp enough, it's just that I wish to see more of the black pupil. FWIW, I do some minor eye-doctoring (I'm not going to try spelling that other word, not even with spell checker enabled!) on approximately 90% of my images, either lightening the iris ever so slightly, or enhancing catchlights, etc...

Hey, sonically my last name is loosely translated in English as "four eyes", just to keep the "eye" theme going....:p

[Danny J Brown]

Wow, check out that light! Good details too. Perfect HA and I love the water drops, especially on the tail. I'm with Randy for the eye...but for me it looks sharp enough, it's just that I wish to see more of the black pupil. FWIW, I do some minor eye-doctoring (I'm not going to try spelling that other word, not even with spell checker enabled!) on approximately 90% of my images, either lightening the iris ever so slightly, or enhancing catchlights, etc...

Hey, sonically my last name is loosely translated in English as "four eyes", just to keep the "eye" theme going....:p

Thanks Stuart and Daniel for the nice input. Someday after I retire from my career as an "ichthyologist" (try to spell that one!) I'll consider doing some localized adjustments on my images to make them even better. Right now I do everything in Canon DPP except for my watermark and resizing in CS4. Take care, friends.

DB

[James Salywoda]

Awesome shot Danny nice low angle, detail and pose she really looks great with that beautiful light. That background is fantastic as the duck really pops off the screen well done.:)

[Danny J Brown]

Thanks Jim.

[Pieter de Waal]

Missed this one Danny. I also enjoy seeing the birds not found in our area and this is one. Top image with beautiful light and exposure. Like how you have captured all those rich and warm tones of brown.

[Danny J Brown]

Thanks Pieter!