Common Goldeneye (female) wingflap.

[Daniel Cadieux]

With “only” 400mms to work with I was happy to have this full-frame image under my belt of this more-often-than-not skittish species. These guys/gals most often dart away frantically on whistling wings from 100+ yards away!! Gotta love those small waterholes surrounded by ice. She was very nervous as I slowly scaled/slid down the snowy river bank, then looked OK for the few minutes I spent...then she did flee once I was back up the bank and way out of range...go figure!

I'm not overly thrilled with the bird's right wing pose (our left), but since I have almost nothing on this species I am actually quite happy overall.

Canon 40D + 100-400L @400mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/320s., f/6.3, ISO 800 (histogram checked), natural light, lying flat on the ice.

[James Shadle]

Daniel,
Very cool image with a beautiful subject.
I don't mind the right wing position due in part the blur. Perfect shutter speed for dead sharp head and eye with some wing blur. The wing blur really tells the story here.

IMO less room at the top and more room at the bottom would make this an even stronger image.
James

PS You nailed the exposure in a very difficult scene to meter . Would you share with our members how much over the metered value you were at when you created this image?

[Daniel Cadieux]

PS You nailed the exposure in a very difficult scene to meter . Would you share with our members how much over the metered value you were at when you created this image?

Thanks James. Man, I wish this was standard info when in manual! I do know it was +2 or +2 1/3 stops over the metered value. I treat overcast snowy scenes like this just the same as I would an overcast sky...

See you soon captain Shadle!

[Todd Frost]

Nice image Daniel. I love the goldeneyes. Exposure looks good as well as sharpness. They can be a bit skittish. Well done.
TFS
Todd

[Arthur Morris]

Like the high key look and the tilt to the bird (even though the image is square to the world. Ice/snow BKGR?

The good news? The highs down here have been about 80 degrees and you are headed here :)

Can you bring your tape player and songs?

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Daniel, nice low angle. I liked the blur here.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks Todd and KD

Artie, the BG is the frozen river with a fresh coat of snow on it. Items requested packed and ready to go! So am I!!