Yellow eye/yellow water - Red Head in Michigan

[Randy Stout]

The spring migrants have started to show up in Michigan. Gary Esman posted a nice Red Head drake last night. I had been at the same bird sanctuary in the morning, but didn't get anything as good as his, so went back in the evening. I had so much fun at Little Estero shooting after sunset, that did the same here.

D300 600mm 1.4 TC ISO 640 f/6.3 1/250s SB-800 Gitzo/Wimberley

Post: CS5 selective sharpen, minor curves, cleaned up a few spots in water, 15% crop for composition

The light was fairly low, shutter speed right on the ragged edge with 1260mm effective focal length and a moving (slow) target. Could have bumped the ISO a bit, but prefer the D300 under ISO 800. I rarely run noise reduction.

The other photographers had packed up and gone home long before this image was taken. The lesson is, there are lots of opportunities after the sun sets!

Advice and comments always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[Doug Brown]

Nice alert pose with good eye contact. Like the water color; it complements the bird quite well. I'd consider selectively sharpening the head just a little and bringing up the blacks a touch. But as I stated in another thread I'm using a new monitor calibration tool, so I'm interested in other opinions on the exposure.

[Gary Esman]

Hi Randy. Nice shot here. Sounds like the same conditions in the evening as the morning before the sun hit the tops of the trees. I like your shot better. The light is more evenly casting across the body. Pretty cool I can see the shore line in the reflection on his chest. As far as the exposure I will leave that up to the experts.

Gary.

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely photo.

You can feel the late afternoon light in the photo. Well done.

Opening up the blacks will offer more details I just don't know if mood of photo changes. Have to try it to see I guess.

If mine I might look at a tiny slice off bottom to maintain symmetry.

Dave

[Aidan Briggs]

You rewarded by staying later. I love the water color and the soft light. If were mine I might have gone for a slightly looser comp. Still a wonderful image!

[Randy Stout]

Thanks guys.

Aidan, I don't have a lot of canvas to play with. Nothing more in front, a bit below and behind, hence how I cropped it.

I can have a go at extending the canvas on the left. Felt this was just at the limits as posted with acceptable balance front/rear.

I have a number of other shots later when I switched back to the D700 as the light continued to fade.

They are much looser because of the loss of the crop factor.

Cheers

Randy

[Aidan Briggs]

Hey Randy, the composition is perfectly fine as it is. It is just a personal preference of mine to like slightly looser comps than many other photographers.

[Randy Stout]

Aidan:

Sometimes when I hang around with Roman, his tight cropping rubs off on me. Some type of disease I think

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Tack sharp Randy, and you have captured incredible detail. I like the colours on these guys, and interestng texture to the water. Well captured.

[Ron Caswell]

Looks great Randy, Nice colors and sharpness, I left because we where only in the area for a few minutes to drop off our daughter at my cousins house so I brought my camera for some quick shots, Wish I could have stayed you have a great shot there, Ron

[Tom Redd]

Randy, very beautiful shot. It is good for me to see shots like this with low light and relatively low shutter speed that still come out crisp like this. I have much to learn. Well done.

[Jim Crosswell]

A real beauty Randy! I like the water texture and lighting.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Cool looking duck, nice colors and yes the water colors add very well... nicely done Randy..

[Roman Kurywczak]

Aidan:

Sometimes when I hang around with Roman, his tight cropping rubs off on me. Some type of disease I think

Cheers

Randy

That's why I like the tight crop here! The disese is often referred to as: whatdoyouneedallthatdeadspace 4! I might try opening the blacks a touch just for comparison....but IMO.....you knocked this one out of the park!

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Randy , exceptional light and detail in this image. I like the crop, mood and colours created here.

[Cody Covey]

Really nice picture, love the background nice and smooth really compliments the bird!