Gadwall

[Richard Greenwood]

Another learning shot. I'm still having trouble getting high shutter speeds - this was was taken at 1/250 - although I don't think it's turned out that bad.

C&C welcomed as usual.



AV mode, f5.6, 1/250 +1/3 EV, ISO 400, Canon 7D & 100-400 (@400mm)

Richard

[Arthur Morris]

Nicely designed with a good exposure. Could use a bit of contrast on the bird and some sharpening as well to give it some pop.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Richard,

What a beautiful species, I love the ducks and this is not bad but like you mentioned the image needs to be sharper. Ducks are so beautiful and more detail is needed for a stronger picture .This looks to be a challenging image with the bright reflections in the water. Moreover the majority of the bright water is reflecting light but we do not care about the detail there,.. in the background,.. but we want the detail in that fluffy head (are you using center sensor). I am rambling here, but the point is to shot several shots and review on the LCD and adjust as needed ensuring the image looks sharp. Often I zoom and look for detail on test shots and set my exposure accordingly. As I always say we shoot the light and the subject and both will change.

The main thing here as you noted is shutter speed and a kinda rule of thumb is to have the shutter at least or close to the FL (400 in this case). Some do not agree with this practice, either way it will get you thinking about faster speeds when using the full 400MM and of course we are talking about HHing the camera not on a tripod.

The composition and subject placement is good nice capture; keep em coming and thanks for sharing.