Female Merganser Seated On Log
This photo was taken on a local river that I pass frequently. Generally these birds spook easily, but this was a good day and I got multiple shots of her sunning on the log, standing on the log and finally in the water. Usually you get a quick look and as soon as I roll the window down to get a shot they shoot off into the air and all you see is the rear view...
Canon EOS 40D
500 MM lens with 1.4 TC
Shutter 1/125
Exposure Manual
F/8
ISO 400
Focal Length 700 MM
No flash
Metering Pattern
Nice find and eye contact. I would crop a bit off the top and bottom and sharpen the bird more and would put the copyright notice somewhere in the corner.
Laurie- Agree with Axel. This is potentially an outstanding image if you crop some off the bottom (thereby putting the bird in a better position and reducing the impact of the perch), and sharpen the bird up some. The eye could use some brightening up.
I changed the crop, sharpened, but have no idea how to brighten the eye in Photoshop. Hopefully this is what you guys were suggesting. Thanks for the comments.
This looks better. I would not crop quite as much at the bottom. You could try out the shadow/highlights tool in Photoshop to get more details in the shadows, including the eye.
This is a big improvement Laurie. Well done. Robert O'Toole's APTATs CD available at Birds as Art has all the technical methods to brighten up the eye. You have to be subtle but the method involves Quickmasking to select the eye and using Curves or Levels to change brightness and contrast. Also the sharpening tool can be used to increase the contrast in the highlight. Here's what I mean.
BTW what a beautiful bird!
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