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Thread: Female Common Merganser Flight #2

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Default Female Common Merganser Flight #2

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    I went back to my pond today and lasted 50 minutes (lying on snow with camo sheet over me) in the bitterly cold weather -14C and with the windchill -23C. NW winds were 30km/hr gusting to 55km/hr. In other words- IT WAS FRIKKIN" FREEZING!
    I had to quit because I was shivering so badly I could not keep the camera still- even on the tripod.
    But it was worth it! I got a couple of keepers.
    Canon 1 DX 600mm and 1.4x
    ISO 500 SS 1/3200 F8. I was underexposed by 1/2 stop.
    Crop to 70% FF to a pano. Processed in LR CC and Photoshop.
    Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
    gail
    Last edited by gail bisson; 01-17-2019 at 06:32 PM.

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    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    I really like the 16X9 crop... and nice and low.
    I especially like the BG, it looks cold and arctic like. I guess it sort of is....
    Nice to get the head just clear of shadow.
    Dan Kearl

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Like this one too but the dark line through the bird drops it below the other one in my book. Still a wonderful image though.

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    Great action and setting. Colors are great, especially the deep blues in the water. I think a touch more NR on the BG would help. Credit for going out in that cold and wind. TFS

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Gail, just love your low angle here, and this is a magnificent capture, so freezing your butt off has really paid off. Excellent action for the take off, raised wings, flying water, and really nice and sharp too. I do like the overall colours on the Merganser. Well captured.

    I admire your courage/determination to have stuck around so long in those conditions. I cant stand -1 deg C.

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    Lifetime Member Mike Poole's Avatar
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    A great reward for sticking it out - fair play!

    Great low perspective and the wing and feet position are nigh on perfect. The trailing water adds a lot

    Mike

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    Tomorrow will be my first outing since back from the Caribbean, and the forecast HIGH is -20C with a windchill of -30C plus some snow to add to the insult...ouch! Oh well, were tough Canucks eh! I love the running pose and fully raised wings. Nicely composed with the full inclusion of the splash at right.

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    Lovin the take off Gail and yes it even looks cold. The splashed water adds to this image and I like the feet position! Applause for braving the cold...VERY NICE

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    Very cool (or COLD) Gail. Sounds balmy compared to when we were in Minnesota. Love the splashing water and the raised wings. Unlike everyone else who has not mentioned it, I think the whole image is too dark and could benefit from lifting the exposure another .33-.5 stops. I also think there is a little too much saturation in the orange of the feet and the blue of the water. I would also try and lift the shadows on the bird, especially the belly. It just adds to the heavy look to me. Pretty easy fixes for a super nice shot.

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Isaac Grant View Post
    Very cool (or COLD) Gail. Sounds balmy compared to when we were in Minnesota. Love the splashing water and the raised wings. Unlike everyone else who has not mentioned it, I think the whole image is too dark and could benefit from lifting the exposure another .33-.5 stops. I also think there is a little too much saturation in the orange of the feet and the blue of the water. I would also try and lift the shadows on the bird, especially the belly. It just adds to the heavy look to me. Pretty easy fixes for a super nice shot.
    I agree 100% with your critique! I did not touch the saturation slider.Usually, if I increase the exposure of an image by this much, everything becomes rather flat. How do you think my sharpening was? That is what I have been struggling with.
    Here is a redo and I decreased the saturation in the orange and increased exposure and shadow recovery.
    Gail
    Last edited by gail bisson; 01-18-2019 at 07:58 PM.

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    Looks much better to me Gail. Subtle change but makes a big difference. Sharpening looks pretty good as well. Hard to tell on the head because of the angle and how fine their feathers are on their face but overall the bird looks beautiful. I feel your pain re learning a new system. You have new screen and new software to learn. I have a whole new system and new program to process the RAW files to learn. But I will take that over a day in the office 100% of the time!

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