Bufflehead: Flying on a Dream

[Doug Brown]

In Southern California, I had high hopes for some Bufflehead flight shots with my Mark IV (last years frames were all taken with the 7D). But as I mentioned in my last post, we didn't have much in the way of light. This frame was taken at ISO 1600. It has a dreamy feel to it, as the water has taken on the look of the sky above. I was surprised that the iridescence came out so nicely in the absence of sunshine. Hope you like it!



Canon 1D Mark IV, 600mm + 1.4x, f/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 1600, manual exposure, hand held

[Randy Stout]

Doug:

This is very striking. Excellent comp, angle in frame, displays his unique markings well.
Clouds in the water neat.

For the sake of symmetry, I might add a sliver more room on the bottom so that the bird and its reflection have the same amount of space to the frame edge.

I think the balance of bird and reflection is very accurate here, with the reflection being a bit more subdued, but just for fun I might do some tweaking on the reflection to brighten it a bit to further heighten the effect you have. It certainly lends itself to several versions.

Cheers

Randy

[Bill Dix]

Wonderful shot, Doug. Almost surreal. Beautiful Bufflehead colors; I suspect the lack of sunshine could have been a blessing.

[Stu Bowie]

Excellent capture Doug. Great flying posture with the wings on the full downstroke, and a huge bonus to get a perfect reflection too. The colours certainly have been brought out nicely, and overall well exposed. Great job with the high ISO. With that in mind, did you have to do any NR on the bufflehead, as I cant detect any noise whatsoever. I would assume there would have been???

[Alan Murphy]

Now that's nice. I wish it was mine.

[Greg Basco]

Doug, really cool image. Great job capturing something different. I like the composition as presented; not sure how the original capture was but this is a good choice.

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Doug, this is indeed very unique and interesting. Very well done. Liking the crop as presented. This species stays too far out here in north Texas. I've been trying for a while but absolutely no luck.

[Pieter de Waal]

Wow a fantastic image , the reflection is almost unbelievable and the light conditions certainly give it that dreamy feel. Lovely colours and detail on the Bufflehead. Great capture.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Wonderful image with a really good reflection, like the pastel colours and wing postion. Overcast weather helped a lot. I would love to be able to handhold my 600, have tryed but hey no luck.

[Nate Chappell]

Awesome!!:cool:

[Bryan Hix]

Looks like he is flying above a mirror. Very cool. I almost think you could try some selective lightening around the head some more? Is that a water droplet on the top of its head?

[Doug Brown]

Great job with the high ISO. With that in mind, did you have to do any NR on the bufflehead, as I cant detect any noise whatsoever. I would assume there would have been???

I did have to do some NR to the Bufflehead, but it was selective. Here's a 100% crop of the RAW file with no NR applied.

[Troy Lim]

Doug, can I have a signed copy? :)
Excellent work as always.

[John Ling]

Doug, this is great catch!

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks for the feedback Doug.

[Myer Bornstein]

Doug, what a great picture. Whenever I see buffleheads around here. They are always flying like a bat out of **** away from me. Looking at that hundred percent crop of the raw file on my screen. I really do not see any noise showing up.

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for taking the time to comment folks!

[Kristin Brown]

Doug,
I knew this was a fantastic shot when I saw it in camera. A real keeper! I wish I had one...
You sure know how to make lemonade out of lemons (no light)
Congrats!
Kristin

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Doug, having photographed these guys on Lake Ontario for a number of years I know how hard this capture was to get. I think you did a superb job. This capture if flawless

[Doug Brown]

Hi Doug, having photographed these guys on Lake Ontario for a number of years I know how hard this capture was to get. I think you did a superb job. This capture if flawless

Thanks Andrew!

[denise ippolito]

Beautiful Doug, The reflection and the pose are both super!!:)