Bathing Female Hooded Merganser.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Lots of water splashing as she was flapping her wings rather vigorously (while keeping her head pretty steady!!). The slow-ish shutter speed created some neat water movement effect.

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/320s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, horizon levelled and then cropped for comp, NR to the top part of the BG, darkened the pupil.

[William Dickson]

Lovely frame Dan, and the shutter speed shows the water splash really good without losing the sharpness on the bird. Nice colours. Great photography. Well done

Will

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Up periscope! Wonderful splashes and perfectly still head. Great low level capture. Like the green BG too. Very nicely done, Daniel.




Geoffrey

[Karen Pleasant]

Well shot from a low perspective. The composition is pleasing and the water splashes accentuate the merganser. It appears to be a simple image....but that belies the technical expertise of the photographer. All in all, a very nice image!

[dankearl]

I like the silk white water you have as much as anything....
Nice splash pose.

[keith mitchell]

Water and BG tone in beautifully Daniel, cracking splashing pose.

Keith.

[MiroslavMaric]

Well balanced shot and processing. Like BG, pose and complete frame. TFS.

Cheers,
Miro

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Daniel, cracking detail, and good choice on the techs, love the low POV and the splashes really make for an interesting image and different too!

I just wonder if a sliver off the top to have a consistent green top may help???

Very nice indeed Dan.

TFS
Steve

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Daniel, lovely image. Nice detail, colors, and composition. If mine I would take it into Photoshop and using the Paint Brush with an opacity of 20% pick up the green color and brush over the grey at the top. That would tone down the grey without changing the crop. The grey kind of draws the eye away from the bird and splashing water. Thank you for sharing.

[Bill Dix]

Great splash on a beautifully graduated background. I don't mind the grey. Good detail on the head despite the SS. Lovely frame.

[Don Lacy]

I think the angle of the water makes this one really nice the way it is arching over the subject and the fact that the head and eye are very visible.

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

Made me smile! Lot of water for such a little duck.

I do agree with Steve about a tiny slice off the top, just to even the bg. Wouldn't impact the flying water effect in my' view.

Cheers

Randy