Hooded Merganser (female)

[Joseph Przybyla]

Yesterday Dottie and I drove to the east coast to Merritt Island NWR, Merritt Island, Florida. I captured this image from the car through an open window as this lady was putting some distance between herself and the vehicle. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/1600 F/8 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 720 (I should have add +1 or +1 1/3 EV, I had to raise the exposure by 1 in post processing)
Post processed in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop Elements 10
Cropped for composition

[Grace Scalzo]

Nice sharp face and I love the wet feathers. Reflections are pleasing. probably just dirt in the water, but I would remove most of the dark specs in the blue water bottom of frame.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Joseph, good HA from a subject swimming away from you, and I like the reflected grasses in the top of the frame.

[Daniel Cadieux]

This is the same way I most often see this species....swimming away and looking back every so often. I love the texture of the water around and behind the merganser. I agree with Grace's suggestion.