Barrow's Goldeneye

[Indranil Sircar]

This is from earlier in the year taken at Shoreline park, Mountainview. This was one of those rare opportunity, I got both of them raising their head in unison! The settings were

7D, Sigma 50-500mm @ 500mm on Gitzo/Mongoose
1/2000 sec, f/8, Av, Evaluative Metering, Exp comp: -1/3, ISO: 800

For processing, cleaned up some water bubble on bg, adjusted for saturation, selective colors... your c&c will be appreciated...

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Indranil, I like the symmetrical head positions and the colors.

The subjects, esp. the drake, seem soft. Is it critical-focus issue? The tail side of the hen seems sharper. Composition-wise, I'd have more room on top and crop from bottom. Whites seem very bright.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Great opportunity Indranil!! I too love the symmetrical poses, but I also agree with KD's critique and observations.

[Indranil Sircar]

KD, Dan, thanks for the feedback.

Critical focus was on the center touching the drake's head. The whites are surely within limits... not sure why you are seeing it so bright.

[Ofer Levy]

What a great opportunity. Whites look fine to me. I agree about the softness. I suspect that taking the same photo with a better lens could have made a big difference. Maybe the Sigma 50-500mm cannot deliver the IQ standards we are used to from the Canon/Nikon primes.

[Indranil Sircar]

Thanks. Agreed on the softness from the lens... Here is a repost with different crop and better focus on the drake.