Northern Shoveler.

[Karl Egressy]

I'm wondering if I will get ticketed by the angle police.
(Head angle and shooting angle) :S3:
This is the lowest I'm willing to go in a place that is full of mock and dirt. (Sitting on my foam pad at the edge of the water.)
Taken this afternoon.
Thanks for looking.



EOS-1D Mark IV
Manual Exposure
Tv 1/1000
Av 7.1
ISO 400
EF500mm f/4L IS USM

[Randy Stout]

Karl:

This is low enough for me to be very effective.

Great display of the trademark bill, like the drips.

The image is a little too bright for me, the whites and head look unnaturally bright.

There is a dust bunny in the ULC.

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto Mr. Stout. It looks as if sharp focus is on the flank not on the head and face... Strangely the bill looks sharp so maybe there was some head motion....

[Karl Egressy]

Thanks Randy, thanks Artie. The active focus square was at the base of the beak.
It might have been better to aim for the tip of the beak. Later I swithed to f8.0 to get some more DOF.
Once you told someone to focus on the tip of the beak if it turns towards you, Artie.
Most of the time I try to focus on either the eye or the beak.
I try to keep the pictures bright as I kind of like them this way but sometimes I overdo it.
There were substantial blinkies in the white, to be honest.

[Ofer Levy]

Lovely shot Karl! I agree regarding the brightness but I am almost certain the details are there and you can get it right starting from the RAW. Aiming the centre point at the base of the beak was a good choice as the focus will be half in front of this point - the edge of the beak and half at the back which should cover the eye. SLightly more sharpening on the head and eye area will do IMHO.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Randy, thanks Artie. The active focus square was at the base of the beak. It might have been better to aim for the tip of the beak. Later I swithed to f8.0 to get some more DOF.
Once you told someone to focus on the tip of the beak if it turns towards you, Artie. Most of the time I try to focus on either the eye or the beak. I try to keep the pictures bright as I kind of like them this way but sometimes I overdo it. There were substantial blinkies in the white, to be honest.

The base of the beak was perfect. As for "focus on the tip of the beak if it turns towards you, Artie" you are either mis-quoting me or quoting me out of context :). Always focus on the eye or on something as close to the plane of the eye as you can :).

[Angad Achappa]

Love the image, except for it being a little on the brighter side. :)

[arash_hazeghi]

great pose and nice details, the photo looks very sharp to me, I think the head was wet creating a somewhat softer impression.
well done

[Karl Egressy]

Thank you all. Artie, sorry for the mis-quoting.
I might have been something very specific or I just simply don't remember well.

[Arthur Morris]

No sweat; probably just out of context or one word off :).

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I like the angle just fine. I like the ha as well and the drip is great. If it were mine I would take some off the bottom and add to the top if possible. Or just crop at the middle brown reflection. Brightness mentioned, easy fix

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Karl, shooting angle, head angle...are both very good here. Low enough I'd say. nice colors and pose. nice freeze of the water. loved the water. Maintaining AF point is tricy when photographing swimming ducks at close range as they are always changing angles. Many times, I use the bottom focus point when bird is parallel and put it on the body and let DOF cover the rest. I find it difficult to keep one on the eye and my 40D latches on to the BG quickly when the bird moves the head. Good call on Manual exposure.