Hooded Merganser

[Gary Esman]

Canon 50D, EF 100-400 IS L, shot at 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/125, iso = 400. This is my first post to BPN so comments are very welcomed. Have a great day.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Lot's to like here. This detail at 1/125 you must have the touch (assume low light). The composition is fantastic, fall colors with leaves floating in the water. Great eye and fine detail in the head feathers. I like the PS work, the sharpening and color look perfect.

The water color is great and the whites look spot-on, I assume the histogram has no right side clips.

Gary, welcome and thanks for sharing this fine picture. I would print this one for sure. What a lovely creature.

PS,. I cannot use the excuse the 100-400 L is too soft for image quality (smile)

[Randy Stout]

Gary:

Jeff hit the high points. Excellent exposure on a difficult to expose bird. I like the leaves, the visible foot, and hood being up. Slight head turn to his left would show off the hood a bit more, but overall very nice.

Good job, keep them coming.

Randy

[Harshad Barve]

Big welcome to BPN and rocking image to start with
lovely pose, compo and expo
TFS

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Gary,
A big warm welcome to the BPN family. I like your first post. The composition, image and capture is good...I like the direct clear eye contact. You have fine sharp details in the feathers and the color rendition is good...the quality of the water is sweet...would of liked to have seen perhaps a lower capture angle if possible...good show...looking forward to more...:cool:

[Bill Dix]

Terrific first post. Welcome and congratulations! Can't ask for better eye contact, good comp and exposure, and the leaf colors complementing the bird are great. Well done.

[Gail Spitler]

The color of the leaves connects very nicely with the colors of the merganser. Nice composition, well exposed and sharp. I am always amazed at how much more interesting an image can be if you can get the camera at eye level with the bird; it can take an image from good to great.
Welcome - this is a great place to learn and keep learning.
Gail

[denise ippolito]

Gary, Big Welcome to BPN. Fantastic first post. Really nice details in the hood. Beautiful water colors and leaves.

[Gary Esman]

Thanks for all the comments they are very much appreciated!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Gary - a big warm welcome to the BPN family - Great 1st post.
Techs covered above.
Looking forward to seeing more :)

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Very nice, love the look on this guy face, very mean very determine. I also like the ripple on the water and leaf floating around sure add to the image. Lower angle would put this image even better even though you will lose the feet which can be see through the water here. I also like your choice for exposure, there is no blow out on the white, just some blocked shadow around the neck. It is very hard to expose right for black and white bird, given the condition you were in I would choose to save the highlight rather than shadow too. Well done.