Yesterday, I visited a Jetty where a small number of Harlequin Ducks return every winter. They are seldom still while in the water, and I enjoy watching their antics. This male came by like a speeding bullet either chasing or being chased by another duck. I've sharpened the bird, lowered the highlights, cropped for comp, and removed some distracting highlights. I find these birds a challenge to expose well due to the contrast of bright whites and darker colors.
The water looks roughish. Are these sea ducks? He looks like he is having a ball, and I can imagine what fun they would be to watch. The leg looks like it's propelling him . Nice colours and I think you have exposed them well. There appears to be a pinkness to the water droplets. Is that reflected from him?
You caught this just at the right moment Carolyn, with the bird cresting the wave perfectly. Your exposure looks spot on and focus has the covered the whole bird. You are right that birds like this can be difficult to capture but I think you done it here. You've inspired me to go out and spend some time chasing them.
The water looks roughish. Are these sea ducks? He looks like he is having a ball, and I can imagine what fun they would be to watch. The leg looks like it's propelling him . Nice colours and I think you have exposed them well. There appears to be a pinkness to the water droplets. Is that reflected from him?
Thank you for sharing this fun image.
I think the pink spots are what I call "pinked out whites"---as opposed to burned out. It happens to me a lot with big patches of way overexposed sky when I get too close to shooting into the sun.
The water looks roughish. Are these sea ducks? He looks like he is having a ball, and I can imagine what fun they would be to watch. The leg looks like it's propelling him . Nice colours and I think you have exposed them well. There appears to be a pinkness to the water droplets. Is that reflected from him?
Thank you for sharing this fun image.
Thanks, Glennie, These ducks winter along rocky coastlines in crashing surf where they dive for fish and marine invertebrates. They do often seem to "run" across the water. I'm not sure why some of the specular highlights are pink. Perhaps someone can advise on how to prevent that.
You caught this just at the right moment Carolyn, with the bird cresting the wave perfectly. Your exposure looks spot on and focus has the covered the whole bird. You are right that birds like this can be difficult to capture but I think you done it here. You've inspired me to go out and spend some time chasing them.
Interesting action. Good job of hitting the focus right. I have the feeling of it needing some CW rotation, but that can just be an illusion when looking down at a subject is angled like this. More an observation than a suggestion...
These are Beautiful ducks Carolyn. The purpleish pink fringing in the water is Chromatic Aberration. It is easily removed In Lightroom. Chromatic Aberration Explained HERE
Interesting action. Good job of hitting the focus right. I have the feeling of it needing some CW rotation, but that can just be an illusion when looking down at a subject is angled like this. More an observation than a suggestion...
What is the lens? And what processing?
Thanks, Diane. The lens is a Canon EF 300mm f/4 IS USM plus an 1.4 extender = 420mm (more with the crop factor). I reduced highlights in ACR and sharpened the bird in PS and then again on the jpeg. I also removed some distracting highlighted areas in the water.
The extender is probably what contributed to the CA -- good catch by Craig. I speedread right past that.
I'd caution about sharpening in PS and then again on the JPEG. Sharpening is only the creation of edge artifacts that make an image look sharper, but you don't want to sharpen the artifacts later. The default sharpening of 25 in ACR is about all that is safe, and it is meant to compensate for the softening effect of the anti-alias filter over the sensor. (It sharpens the L channel in LAB mode, which minimizes artifacts.) Sometimes you can do a little more there, but with caution. It can be dangerous to use USM or any other sharpening filter in PS, for an image that is going to be downsized to a JPEG for the web. Sharpening a file copy that had been upsized for printing can be OK, as can the very slight sharpening that sometimes helps an exported small JPEG.
These are Beautiful ducks Carolyn. The purpleish pink fringing in the water is Chromatic Aberration. It is easily removed In Lightroom. Chromatic Aberration Explained HERE
Thanks very much for the information, Craig. I like the re-post.
Harlequin Drake
Originally Posted by Glennie Passier
