Male Merganser

[Dave Mills]

I shot this a few weeks ago in Cape Cod.
Nikon D300 500mm F/4 Tripod Mtd 1.7 tele extndr
F/8 1/1000 -1/3 comp

[Randy Stout]

Dave:

Fantastic hairdo on this guy. Lovely colors. Wish the sun angle had been more over your shoulder. Perhaps a bit more space in front of the bird if possible.

Really a striking fellow.

Thanks

Randy

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Nice pose and eye contact but it appears to be a tad underexposed and if it had been possible a lower angle . Slightly more canvas on top and bottom and to the left would also strengthen this image as well. Thanks for sharing.

[Arthur Morris]

Howdy, You had a great chance on a difficult bird. As mentioned above, when you work off angle to the light many problems arise. The light is from the back right rather than from over your shoulder.

Is this a big crop? The image quality is suspect at best. No part of the bird looks sharp, especially the eye. IAC, the bird is too large in the frame.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Artie, It's not a big crop...as a matter of fact I added a bit of canvas since he was very close to me. Maybe it's my eyes(since I'm not a kid anymore) but most of this image was sharp in my monitor.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the info Dave. Going with the 1.4 TC rather than the 1.7 would have made sense here. I recommend never going more than 75% of the frame with the subject. Some folks have had problems with the image quality of uploaded JPEG's but as presented, this image is simply not at all sharp. I am unsure as to why the first two folks to comment did not mention it.

[Dave Mills]

Yes, in hindsight I probably should of used the 1.4 (which I have). Most birds were at good distance and I needed the extra length. This guy then flew right in front of me and I was working quickly to capture him before he took off which after 2 dives he was out of range. Thanks for the insight....