This shot was very much an afterthought. I was photographing a pair of pochard in these autumnal reflections and had ignored the coot totally. Last minute I fired off two shots including this one. I'm pretty pleased with the resultant image not least because I have had so much trouble getting a reasonable shot of this species. Apart from the obvious black and white contrast issue, they just don't seem to be very photogenic.
Canon 40D + 400mm DO. ISO 400, f5.6 @ 1/500 sec. Evaluative metering.
Hi Sean,
I like the composition, you have sharp details and good color rendition, the overall image looks a bit flat and slightly under exposed. I tweaked it up a bit by increasing saturation and contrast...see if it presents better...:cool:
Excellent exposure. Personally I think Gus's re-post is going in the right direction; maybe it got a bit too bright???
I know what you mean about coots - they seem to find water of a color that always matches their plumage. They can also have a mean look; perhaps something to do with bill shape and little beady eyes.
Cheers
Gail
Thanks all. I agree that Gus's version is much better. Funnily enough, I darkened the image in DPP by a full stop partly to protect the white bill from being blown out and partly because I thought the colours were a little 'over the top'. Seeing Gus's version side by side with my original I realise that I was wrong.
motif: Coot
