Striking sharpness and colors, great moment captured. I really like how the whole scene pops out; the colors in the drake's bill almost hurt the eye!
Very nice color on the water and BG, too.
Great interaction and I love the colors. The blue of the water really help the red and orange of the male standout. I like the angle of capture and that we can clearly see both the eyes of the rids. If this were mine I would consider cropping about half of the out-of-focus water at the bottom and perhaps just a touch off the top. Just my personal preference as I do think this is nice as presented. I might also might try and tone down the white strip on the side of the bird as it look a little bright to me. Lovely image and thanks for sharing.
Matthew, I agree with Phil regarding a slight crop off the bottom(personal preference for me too) I love the moment captured and the sharp details. Beautiful image.
Awesome Matthew! colors, sharpness and the low angle are great.
My only preference would for more room on the right but its okay as is.
I like the room on the top and bottom as is.
Also with ducks there are some areas of white that are almost impossible to tone down, you almost have to create a psuedo HDR to get some white toned down. That is just a fact of life.
Very nice techs. My vote would be for a sliver off top and bottom as well. I don't find the white stripe to be too distracting, but I do agree that it looks to have lost some detail.
Capturing the action is the strongest point of this pic with both eyes duplicated in position !
Cropping could have been done many ways ! I like it like it is.
Toning down small areas of white is fraught with problems in my hands and I end up letting them go if small to maximize the rest of the pic.
Good to be with you in Barrow.
The colors, light, and action here almost make me regret staying in so many afternoons.... But I did need my rest :) Anyway, thanks again for a great trip.
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BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
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The whites have more detail in the repost. Still killer. I meant to mention in my comment above that an option would be to tone down the specular highlights on the bill of the male with a tiny, 15% opacity Clone Stamp Tool.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
Below your stunning shot I read 20 June, 11:01 p.m. Ah, the Alaska summer. So much good twilight for photographers to use! Did you ever get around to sleeping while you were up there? The colors, behavior, good low angle--very, very good. This photo is a bar, a standard to aim for.
King Eiders in Love
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