Harlequin Duck

[denise ippolito]

Canon 40D
500mm +1.4 ex
1/800 sec. at f/8
ISO 640
+1/3 EV
HH
Full frame
This morning at Barnegat Light,overcast
Not the best Harlequin shot,but my personal best:)so far.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Lovely Denise. Excellent exposure and detail and a sweet pose and low angle. Well done !!!!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Denise..awesome job with the blacks. Loved the feather details. I think you might be able to pull it down a little and still maintain the black details and hopefully get some in the whites.

[Juan Aragonés]

Denise you can not imagine how jealous I feel about this image! This species of duck is one of my favorite and you are lucky for having the oportunity of photograph one of these beauties.
You did a very good job with the exposure and sharpness is fantastic. Great eye contact. i would suggest to increase a bit the contrast and add a touch of more saturation. :-)

[Ilija Dukovski]

The detail on the plumage and visible water drops is what sets this one apart from many
of the same species. Great work!

[denise ippolito]

Thankyou all for the feedback, I appreciate you all taking the time to help. Hope the repost is better.

[Juan Aragonés]

Denise, I was thinking in something like you have done on the duck but keeping the original white color of the water in order to create a more high key image :)

[denise ippolito]

Here it is w/ toned down BG. Thankyou for taking the time to help me get this right.:)

[James Salywoda]

Superb Image! Great species Denise and so beautifully photographed your low angle and outstanding detail make this shine I wish it was mine.....;)

[Juan Aragonés]

The last repost is exactly what I was thinking in :)

[Jim Fenton]

Really like the repost :)

Perthaps a bit more DOF and I might try doing a bit of work on the eye for lightening and contrast.

[denise ippolito]

James thankyou for your kind words. Much appreciated.
Juan:) Thankyou
Jim F. I will have to go back for more DOF:) I will take a look at the eye and see what I can do. Thankyou.

[Bill Dix]

A lovely image, Denise, improved in the repost. You've managed to get fine feather texture on a species that can sometimes look more like a painted decoy (at least when I try to capture them). Nicely done, as usual!

[Mike Veltri]

Very nice Denise

[Michael Zajac]

Denise, Very nice details and exposure. Love the full frame shot. Great job HH the 500!

[Arthur Morris]

I like all of the versions and hope that they are there when I get there. I got to Long Island today. Looks as if it was pretty calm. If you make a Quick Mask of the pupil and darken it it will give the image a lot more pop.

[arash_hazeghi]

Very beautiful Denise, love the details and good exposure too.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the soft light, the colors may be less vivid but at least it is easier to expose the whites properly. I agree with Artie about darkening the pupil.

[denise ippolito]

Artie, I will give it a try-thanks for the tip. They will probably still be there. It was cold and calm this morning.
Bill, Thanks-Hope to see you at the BPN get together on the 19th!
Mike, Michael and Arash, Thankyou all for your kind words.
Axel, I finally did it-HH the 500 on the rocks:)

[Arthur Morris]

Well, since Axel agreed.... I have darkened the pupil. The bird pretty much had an invisible pupil....

[denise ippolito]

Thanks, I'm on my laptop and will definitely darken the pupil on the orig. Looks good.

[Harshad Barve]

beautiful image Denise and repost takes this over the top

I wish it was mine.....;)

+ 1 here

TFS

[Paul Lagasi]

I like em all...most colorful duck out there...congrats..wish I wasn't working the 19th...try and get the Ivory Gull..

[Kiran Poonacha]

Wow Denise, very beautiful frame indeed.. loved the angle and details here...

[denise ippolito]

Harshad, Paul and Kiran-Thankyou all for taking the time to comment,much appreciated.