Harlequin Duck

[Doug Lambert]

Female Harlequin Duck in Des Moines, Iowa on January 1, 2015. These are rare to see in Iowa.




Canon 6D
Tamron 150-600
ISO 1000
f/6.3
Exposure 1/2500
Focal length 600mm
I cropped the photo alot, sharpened, added contrast in photoshop.

Doug

[Diane Miller]

Nice sharpness, especially for a significant crop. I like the frozen water splash -- looks like that camera handles high ISO well.

I might consider taking a little off the top, but I say that a lot so it's probably just one of my quirks. The detail near the top edge draws my eye a little from the subject.

Would love to see more from you!

[Doug Lambert]

Thanks, I wanted to crop a little more, but I didn't think I could keep it sharp. I might have to go back and try it though.

Doug

[Jon Pugmire]

Toning down the whites/highlights in the water sometimes gives the water more interest, but this is nicely presented, the droplets are everywhere but don't interfere with the subject too much.

[Doug Lambert]

Thank you for the feedback, Jon.

Doug

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, I wanted to crop a little more, but I didn't think I could keep it sharp. I might have to go back and try it though.

Doug

Give it a try -- that's the only way to know!

It would be interesting, as Jon suggested, to tone down the highlights a little. Adding contrast in PS can lose detail in whites, unless they were very well under control to start with. You can maximize detail in lights and darks by balancing settings in the raw converter and then using Nik CEP's Detail Extractor in PS.

Check my tutorial in Educational Resources about getting good detail in whites.