Preparing to dive

[Grace Scalzo]

Had a blast at Barnegat Light last weekend. Ducks were fun as was the company (Lou, Terry, Ted, Dave, Roman). I've been trying to incorporate a little action in my images, a gesture, or the like. This fellow was photographed just before he dove. Harlequins are quick, they do not give much of a tell before they dive.

1/640, f8, ISO400
Canon mk3, 500f4 + lowered tripod

[Ben_Sadd]

A nice bird. Love seeing some of these ducks that we do not get over here in Europe.

For me the eye is a little soft and the whites seem blown when I checked in PS.

[Stu Bowie]

Grace, I like the detail and colours, and my eye keeps going to the single droplet behind the tail. ( nothing wrong with that. )

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the alert pose, sharpness and eye contact and would try to recover the overexposed whites. EC -2/3 is usually a good starting point with this species.

[denise ippolito]

Grace, Beautiful pose w/ the head up. I like the sharp details and the fanned tail. Wish I was able to meet up with you guys. Agree w/ whites.

[Grace Scalzo]

Thanks, Everyone. I was (am) a little frustrated with exposing for these ducks. I know that the whites are hot, but the other feathers and the rest of the image look good to me. When I went - 2/3 then other problems crept in. Help?

[Karl Egressy]

It is a really tough bird to expose. I like the pose and sharpness, Grace.

[LouBuonomo]

I really like the alert pose here.. the light we had at the time (and shadow) made this difficult. I think you did the right this going a little hot. Might try overlying 2 processed images this one and one where you rescue the whites (if you can).

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Agree with Lou! Nice shot regardless and you handled it very well Grace. :) TFS.

[DustinFinn]

Really like the pose and water droplet by the tail and the little wake of water by the wing.

Although I most likely would have also let the whites go hot because of the awesome detail in the other feathers I cannot deny that I would have tried what Lou mentioned (and probably threw it away) just to see what it would look like...

Nice work.