Found this Hoody at Ridgefield NWR Auto tour area. Would have liked a lower angle, but you can't get out of car. Duck was in partial shade, light was getting bad- hard to hold whites without underexposing. I like the reflection and water color.
D2X's 80-400mm vr at 400mm (should have went 370mm but forgot) bean bag on window. iso 400 f/7.1 1/320 sec matrix metering WB sunny. ACR CS4 Shadow/highlights, levels, curves, hue/saturation, smart sharpen. comments and suggestions welcome. thanks for looking.
Craig, I like your composition with the reflection at the bottom and the ripples going away from the bird. The colors are really nice. You got good eye contact and head angle.:)
With those your best bet is getting them in all shade if the light is harsh !! Look at the difference between the whites in the crest and breast !! With the slightly different light angle they reflect more and have no detail !! These guys are very tough even in good conditions !!!
Particularly like how you framed it and placed, the ripples going away look great and glad you included all !!!
Love these birds, I think the only thing that would have made it better would have been a lower angle, too bad you couldn't get out of the car. Everything else looks great.
Nice one and good point by Al regarding how light angles show tonality or reflect detail. Love the water and I agree 370MM might have balanced the habitat - well done and thanks for sharing. I need to try this tour sometime.
I like this alot and agree with all comments and advice already given...only the whites on the head could have been better......but still a very nice image indeed.
Hoody M
