Harlequin Duck female

[denise ippolito]

Canon 40D
500mm +1.4 ex.
1/1000 sec. at f/7.1
ISO 400
-2/3 EV
Tripod
Barnegat

[Gabi Sandu]

Denise, superb portret, great colors, nice and smooth BG. Congrats...

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Denise, great close up, and love the detail on the bill. I like the blues in the BG too.

[Dave Blinder]

Denise - Nice control on the whites, fine detail looks good too.

[William Malacarne]

Denise

Good exposure and composition. What mode did you meter this with and on what?

Bill

[Bill Dix]

Sweet portrait, Denise. I love the killer blue BG. Fine detail looks good, but on my monitor there seems to be a clumping effect of the feathers on the cheek. Is this the natural appearance of the bird, or the result of recovering the shadows? I ask because I've seen this on a few of mine and wasn't sure what caused it.

[denise ippolito]

Thankyou all for the feedback.

William, I used Eval. mode.

Bill, I didn't recover any shadows on the face area. The sun lit up the face. The feathers look like this on all of my close-up images.

[Bill Dix]

Thanks Denise. I guess it must be the bird's natural condition. In any event, a beautiful portrait.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Exceptional portrait Denise. Love every bit of it. Great technique and well spotted. :) Love those feather details.

[Ilija Dukovski]

She is actually grooming a feather, right? Very nice capture and I can't believe you've got this close.
I tried to get close to these last weekend and it wasn't easy.

[arash_hazeghi]

Beautiful Denise and what a cute portrait. a bit more dof will bring all the FG feathers in focus :) TFS

[denise ippolito]

Thankyou all for your comments. Much appreciated.
Ilija, She is grooming one of her feathers. She was so cute and timid, I couldn't help but take her picture.

[James Salywoda]

A real beauty Denise I like the feather in the bill well done.

[Jon Saperia]

Densie,

I just saw this image. This is the type of Harlequin picture I said I was looking for in your other forum Can you say when you think the best time to go to Barnegat is?
Thanks
/jon

[Andrew Merwin]

Wonderful image Denise. I really like the water droplets on her back that glisten like little diamonds. The bill is wonderful & I like the sharpness of the eye. Well done.

[denise ippolito]

Jon and Andrew, Thank you both for your kind comments.
Jon, I have a Barnegat Jetty Site guide due out in December. It will be available through the Birds As Art on-line store. I usually go the entire month of Jan. It fits into my schedule and it is less crowded. I try not to go on weekends as more people will be up and down the jetty making photography a little harder. Since you are a BPN member you can Private Message me before you plan to go. Chances are I will have been out there and will be able to give you an update. Also check my blog. Usually whatever I am shooting will be posted there. I have a workshop there on December 18th. The birds do get less skittish the later in the season that you go. The weather in Jan. is descent. Sometimes very cold and windy. Hope that helps.

[Jon Saperia]

Thanks very much for getting back. January is usually when they get to be more numerous up here in the New England/North Shore area. Mating seems to be in March, but is very difficult to photograph in the areas I know about.

Can you say about how far you were from the subject in this picture?
Thanks
/jon

[denise ippolito]

Jon, You can get pretty close. Especially if you are slow moving and patient. I would say that I have been as close as 10 feet at some times. Other times they take off when you get with in 25 feet. All depends on the duck and the way their day is going.:)

[Jon Saperia]

Thanks very much.