Red-breasted Merganser

[Michael Zajac]

Canon 1d Mark III
500mm + 1.4x
1/1600 sec at f /7.1
ISO 400
-1/3 EV

[denise ippolito]

Michael, I love the image design. I might give it a tiny bit more sharpening on the area of the face surrounding the eye. That eye is fantastic and so is the wave!

[Harold Davis]

this should be in avian!!!! killer image!! love how it is peeking out from the wave and the blue bg is sweet!!! nice job, michael!

[Julie Kenward]

Now there's a comp you don't see every day! Wow, Michael! Sharpen that eye and frame this baby! That wave draws your eye right through the image and the red eye just grabs it and makes in hang on. Very nice!

[Mark Theriot]

Awesome shot - love the wave!

Agree on sharpening -will take it way over the top!

Mark

[Ed Vatza]

Superb image, Michael. I am really riding the curvature of that wave and loving it. The Merg ain't bad either! ;)

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Michael, Congrats on this unique capture. The wave is just killer and makes the COMP. The eyes on this (and other duck species) are difficult. I did lots of Eye Doctor and color work. I darkened and slightly enlarged the pupil, reduced the size of the highlight, and darkened what I would call their "second pupil," and area of darker red that surrounds the pupil. Then I selected all of the red of the pupil and added 60 points of CYAN to the REDs in Selective Color. Finally I sharpened the head on a QM.

Is this a crop? (Image quality looked pretty good.)

[Michael Zajac]

Thanks everyone for your comments.
Artie, Great job with the repost and thanks for giving me the step by step. This is a fairly large crop. I thought it looked unique.

[Arthur Morris]

YAW Michael, Your vision and your crop were both perfect.

[Nick Palmieri]

This is awesome Michael...

[Arthur Morris]

This is awesome Michael...

Hey Nick, We greatly appreciate your membership support. Please let us know why you think this image is awesome and please see the "Great Shot Reminder" sticky here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=25608

thank you sir.

[Nick Palmieri]

Usually I do Art, but I think all has been said already. Anyway...I really like the composition, the wave puts this image over the top, being able to maintain focus on the bird in this situation must have been a challenge. I like the way it is cropped and the cosmetic surgery done on the eye really did put it over the top... Thanks for the reminder Artie and thanks for the explanation of the work done on the eye.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Nick. And you added something new, the part about the difficulty of focusing accurately in this situation. We just do not want to become another "Great Shot/Popularity Club" Forum.

(I would have given you a one time break but I saw your response to Denise's image in OOTB :))