Skid Stop

[Bill Dix]

D90; 80-400 @ 400mm. ISO 320. f/7.1 @ 1/1600s. Matrix metering @ -1.3 EV.

A film of thin ice kept the mergansers from swimming close to me, so I amused myself by watching the antics of the geese. This one flew in and put on the air brakes to skid to a stop. A minute later I heard a crackling sound and watched as he (she?) slowly sank through the thin ice into a swimming position. Camera had been set to protect the bright white flanks of mergansers, so I had to brighten the shadows considerably here. C&C appreciated as always.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I'm not sure the skidding was the original plan of the goose. :) I like the angle and eye contact, too bad the light angle didn't help you. Some of the whites look overexposed and the near wing is a bit noisy.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The tough light and its angle sure didn't help you here. Even though you were protecting the whites of the mergansers you still ended up with some hot whites, and any less exposure would have blocked some of the blacks. Great timing on the goose's landing, and I got a chuckle out of your story about the ice crackling:).

[Bill Dix]

The tough light and its angle sure didn't help you here. Even though you were protecting the whites of the mergansers you still ended up with some hot whites, and any less exposure would have blocked some of the blacks. Great timing on the goose's landing, and I got a chuckle out of your story about the ice crackling:).

Thanks Axel and Daniel. I probably pushed the exposure adjustment a bit too far in RAW capture. The histogram looked pretty good on the right side - maybe a few pixels above 245 - but I didn't leave any cushion and the jpeg conversion probably didn't help. This was within 45 minutes of sunset, but the light was indeed still pretty strong. I removed some of the noise in the near wing, but didn't want to push the NR too much so it is still evident. Appreciate the comments.

[Gary Jones]

Nits covered. Good detail. Nice opportunity. I like the reflections off the ice.

[Stu Bowie]

Any duck landing on water has that skiing action, and they seem to ski quite far. But landing on ice, Im sure they ski for ever. I can picture your story so clearly, and hope you captured a shot of him/her falling through the ice.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Well done Bill, nice and sharp. Love how you got him with the landing gear down.

[Craig Wallace]

Nice sharp image, love the pose, great action shot. To bad about the light, but still a keeper. Thanks for the info on the 80-400mm vr lens, very helpful. it is a good multi purpose lens, and affordable. but still have lens envy for a 500mm.