King Eider detail

[Matthew Studebaker]

Barrow, Alaska | June | Canon 1D4 | Canon 600mm f4 IS | 70% of capture 1/640 f9 ISO 400
Laying still, gaining the bird's trust, taking our time and getting low all paid off time and again in the tundra.

[Sid Garige]

Exceptional details and fantastic composition. A+

[Ramon M. Casares]

This is just superb, outstanding shot, with perfect detail, color, light and iMO, perfect crop. Huge congratulations!

[Lana Hays]

Oh, wow, Matthew.....now that's close. I absolutely love all that detail....and perfect composition.

[Art Kornienko]

Amazing detail Matthew, love the colours and crop, your determination did pay off is spades.

[Jim Buescher]

Your "hunting" skills are equally as impressive as your photography skills. A well balanced image with nice exposure and detail.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Awesome crop , color and detail with spot on exposure., Love this one Matthew !!

[Harshad Barve]

Stunningly beautiful image
TFS

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Amazing detail and colours, the exposure looks spot on.

[arash_hazeghi]

great portrait and details well done

[Dan Busby]

Well done Matthew! Nice choice of composition. I wouldn't normally think to eliminate the tip of a beak it worked for you. Echo all the other good comments. Thanks for bringing us close to this northern species that few of would otherwise get to see.

[Michael Hogan]

Matthew, Artie has told us that we should not just say the good things about images but always try to point out the problems so we can all learn from the experience. So with that in mind I have spent the last while looking at this image. I have to admit that it is unbelievable, everything (IMHO) about the image is great, it even evokes an emotional reaction. It also shows that perseverence can really pay off - what you put in is often reflected in what you get back

Congratulations - next IOTW ??:D

Michael

[Stu Bowie]

Excellent detail, and you have brought out the colours nicely. The droplets on the head are a nice touch. Would like to see a close up of a full head shot.

[Michael Zajac]

Incredible species. Good details and exposure. I really like the colors on the face.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Loved the colours and details here.. great work..

[Grace Scalzo]

I've come back to study this image several times. The textural detail is stunning, as are the colors. Your choice of composition is totally unconventional and works perfectly. My eye starts with the red beak then sweeps to the bubbles in the green feathers and then rests on his eye. Have you printed this? Bet it would leap off the walls. f9 was perfect. How did you determine this? I know that as we get closer to our subjects we have to stop down, but did you guess (based on experience), use the dof preview button, calculate? Really, so wonderful!

[Matthew Studebaker]

I've come back to study this image several times. The textural detail is stunning, as are the colors. Your choice of composition is totally unconventional and works perfectly. My eye starts with the red beak then sweeps to the bubbles in the green feathers and then rests on his eye. Have you printed this? Bet it would leap off the walls. f9 was perfect. How did you determine this? I know that as we get closer to our subjects we have to stop down, but did you guess (based on experience), use the dof preview button, calculate? Really, so wonderful!

Thanks Grace. To answer your question about the f-stop, the bird was near minimum focusing distance and through experience I knew that the depth of field at that distance is paper thin. As a rule of thumb I try to shoot at f8 or greater when a bird is that close, and even then the bird has to be fairly parallel to the camera sensor at that point to retain sharpenss. I knew I could go to f9 because the bird wasn't moving too quickly, but my second rule of thumb is to never shoot at less than 1/500 of a second if I can help it, so it seemed like a good compromise at the time and ended up working out well. Thanks for the comment!

[Myer Bornstein]

a 4 star picture, perfect colors and love the water droplets

[Grace Scalzo]

Thanks for that great explanation, Matthew. You actually answered two of my questions, the second was shutter speed. I don't like to go much lower than 1/400 or 500 either. Again, appreciate you taking the time to reply.

[Krijn Trimbos]

Great portrait Matthew! Good comp, good colours and love the detail captured and am envious of you getting to be this close to IMO the most beautiful duck on the planet. If this were mine I would probably up the (midtone) contrast a bit more as it looks a tiny bit flat on my monitor. Congrats on getting this great shot!