Spoonie on Golden Pond

[Mike Lentz]

Its a nice time of year as we get the migrators coming through and the normally difficult species to photograph become a little easier. This was taken on a small lake surrounded by golden brown cattails in the early morning.
I setup in a ground blind and waited til he returned to his favorite shallow feeding area.



Nikon D300 ~ Nikkor 300mm F/2.8 ~ Nikon 2x TC ~ gitzo tripod
ISO 200 ~ F/9 ~ 1/640 sec ~ -1 EV

[Randy Stout]

Hey Mike:

Looks more like a shoveler than a spoonie.

Lovely bird, nice angle in frame sharp, great background.

The whites look a bit hot to me. I might be tempted to crop up to to the end of the neck in the reflection.

Thanks for sharing.

Randy

[Mike Lentz]

Hey Mike:

Looks more like a shoveler than a spoonie.

Lovely bird, nice angle in frame sharp, great background.

The whites look a bit hot to me. I might be tempted to crop up to to the end of the neck in the reflection.

Thanks for sharing.

Randy

Hey Randy, thanks.

P.S. A Spoonie is a nickname for a Northern Shoveller. :D;) It might be difficult to trip me up on duck species. :p

[Maxis Gamez]

Hi Mike,

Cool nickname LOL.

Whites looks OK in my calibrated monitor. The light is terrific and the elegant pose works well!

[Stu Bowie]

Whites look fine on my monitor too. Amazing light and colours captured in this. Comp wise, I would be tempted to take more off the bottom, to a line of the brown in the reflection, and maybe move him back slightly to the right.

[Randy Stout]

Mike:

Mike, sorry I didn't know that one (nickname!)

I did check, and there are a few blown pixels in the red channel on the breast. It obviously looks good to most people, so probably not to worry.

Cheers

Randy

[Alex Mody]

This is really nice... Good light, beautiful bird, excellent pose.

[Grady Weed]

I like the colors here Mike. It has a fall feel to it. Warm tones, sharp, good eye contact, and lots of details in the breast. I do see a small bit warm white, just below the collar. But I don't think it is something to worry over. A nice shoveler. I have yet to see one. I am waiting on the loons here myself! Race ya!

[Kim Rollins]

Mike -

With a Luminosity and color histogram like this one I would have no criticism of the image. I personally see no highlight or individual color issues in this one at all.



One might add very little +expose to it but personally I would suggest that you not change a thing.
The NShovelers we have here are generally observed swimming slowly away and here you have one with good eye contact, good subject, good composition and..

Well Captured IMO.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Kim. The whites are fine. Love the image, esp. the subject to imaging sensor juxtaposition and the proud head angle. If you are in a blind, using a bubble level can help in situations like this where you know just about where the bird is gonna be; if you look at the circular ripple, you will see that it needs some CCW rotation. My other concern is with the handling of the head reflection: you either need to include the whole thing or behead the reflection. Cut don't clip--you have clipped the top of the head.

[Arthur Morris]

ps: I like to reserve spoonie for the pink ones.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great angle, light and details. Whites look good on my monitor. I would crop a bit off the bottom.

[Mike Lentz]

You guys are the best! I hear things I would miss and I appreciate that!
Kim, thanks for posting that chart! :)

Artie, I wasn't sure about the reflection.. still on the fence about that one... maybe you guys are right on that.

[Mike Lentz]

One more though for my friend Artie.... You state above

My other concern is with the handling of the head reflection: you either need to include the whole thing or behead the reflection. Cut don't clip--you have clipped the top of the head.

But in your last image you did the same thing, am I not correct? I'm not sayin, I'm just sayin' ;):p

http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=34122

[Arthur Morris]

One more though for my friend Artie.... You state above But in your last image you did the same thing, am I not correct? I'm not sayin, I'm just sayin' ;):p
http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=34122

Mike, You are not at all reading what I wrote above. And you are not correct. What I said was, either cut off the whole head (which I did with my Mottled Duck image), or include the whole thing. You did neither; you clipped the top of the bird's head reflection.

Best go go back, read what I wrote, study it, and put it in the bank.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Again Mike, After taking a second and closer look at my image, I do see your point but there are still huge differerences in the images. In your image, the head reflection is quite distinct, and you distinctly clipped off the top of the head. In my image, the head, actually the bill, was so diffused that it was barely visible. A fine point yes, but still a huge difference.

[Kim Rollins]

Hey Again Mike, After taking a second and closer look at my image, I do see your point but there are still huge differerences in the images. In your image, the head reflection is quite distinct, and you distinctly clipped off the top of the head. In my image, the head, actually the bill, was so diffused that it was barely visible. A fine point yes, but still a huge difference.

Artie,
I am sure glad you posted again. I am a bit behind in going through the images posted on the last few days but I had just looked and if that was not the bottom half of a ducks head I see in the reflection of your Mottled Duck image my old eyes are a failing me in a way worse way than I had thought they were.

I was thinking I was going blind or had lost my mind. :confused:

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Sweet light and sharpness.
I agree with Arthur about cutting not clipping the head, by the way, great head angle and eye contact.

[Mike Lentz]

I'm also glad you posted again Artie, I was worried for a mili second. :eek: The funny thing is that when I saw your image I made my comment on your thread knowing I was going to post my "Spoonie" and knowing what comments would possibly be made about the chopped reflection of the head... I just figured more people would challenge me than you. So thanks for letting me do my little study on responses. :D Now I'm going to add bottom canvas and fix that 1/8th of missing duck head. ;)

Thanks for commenting guys.:)

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Mike, Thanmks for being open to getting my point. And do post the repost if you know what I mean!

[Mike Lentz]

I'll work it up today, so check back later okay.

[Mike Lentz]

Here it is.... reflecting "Spoonie"
P.S. "Spoonie" is what duck hunters and sportsman refer to these Northern Shovelers as.... :D

Thanks for giving me the will to re-work the image. :)

[Arthur Morris]

Well done. Glad that we inspired you.