Hooded Mergansers Silhouette.

A young family of Hooded Mergansers has delighted many this year at a local park. There were 14 hatchlings at first (I missed those...too busy at that time), and they eventually dwindlwed down to 6 survivors. This is two of them sharing a favorite perch. Taken just as the sun was starting to peek over the trees. I knew the light angle would be wrong so early in the morning from the side of the pond, but there was access to position myself for silhouettes, so I concentrated on this technique first. The trick for success here with two subjects was to wait for two good head angles for good profiles...and I really wanted the two to face each other. It took a while, but patience paid off!

Canon 7D + 100-400L @400mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/1600s., f/8, ISO 800, handheld, oh and no eye doctoring here!!:bg3:

Hi,

Indeed - beautiful. The position of the 2 heads, i.e. the birds appear to be having a relaxing intimate moment, is great, as are the silhouette and the sky color. I also like that you can see the sky through the nostrils. Maybe remove the feather sticking out from the right hand bird?

Richard

Richard

Nice one, Daniel. You are a romantic, I see...

very nice Daniel.
I like the displaced feather personally but otherwise agree with Richards' comments,
gail

I really like this Daniel. I like that the light shows thru the bills, the birds positions and the stray feather on the right..

Hi Daniel.

Wonderful image. I really like silhouettes, and having two subjects in apparent interaction really puts the image over the top. Well done.

Roger

This rocks on many levels....emotional, aesthetic, etc.
Great to see a high quality silhouette not taken in Florida :)

One of the best, beautiful images of silhouette I have seen so far.Love the interaction between two of them and the superb sky colors.
Regards.

very nice Daniel,I like the feather sticking up,and whats that orange and yellowBG,is it the sun setting,a very rare sight here in the UK:w3.THANKS.

Thanks all! The background is actually water, with the top "vignetting" the top of reflected trees.

This is really pretty! I love it!

Daniel:


A very simplified image (which is good) Strong colors, birds reduced to their most basic form/shape, good interaction.

Well done.

Cheers

Randy

Daniel - your patience paid off big time. Gorgeous in all respects! I too like the stray feather.

TFS,
Rachel

Wonderful, Daniel, such a lovely atmospheric image, with a nice sense of interaction, and great comp and sharpness. My favorite part is the light coming through the nares.

Great shot, Daniel. loved the head positions, the color, the dark band at the top...the size in the frame...would not even think of touching a thing. You positioned yourself perfectly...awesome work.

Really an amazing silhouette and wonderful atmosphere.

Fantastic shot. I really like the colors in the BG. The birds looking at each other makes this one special.

Markus

This is wonderful. Wish I had taken this :)