Hooded Merganser

[Christopher Ciccone]

Hi All,

I've finally decided to join the group and start posting a pic here and there to get some real constructive criticism to try and take my photos up a notch. I have Photoshop CS3 (for windows) but have never had any real instruction in it. Everything I do comes from experimentation and little trick and tips I pick up from places like this to try and improve post-processing.

I had been debating what to post first (I have some pics from Florida that I want to post) but since this was from yesterday I thought it appropriate to post something current.



Canon 1D Mkiii
100-400mm lens @400mm
1/1000s @ f7.1
Aperture Priority, Matrix metering
No exposure bias (?!?)
About 2:30 in the afternoon, overcast light

In retrospect, I think I should have dialed in -1/3 to -2/3 exposure bias to bring down the whites in the hood and try to hold some more detail there.

Any thoughts?

(And I'll probably have a lot less exposition in future posts)

[Julie Kenward]

Christopher, welcome to the ETL forum! You'll find that these birds present a real challenge because of their whitest whites and blackest blacks all at the same time. If you know how you might open the image in Camera Raw that comes with CS3 and try to use the recovery slider to bring those whites in line. My guess is some of your blacks are blocked as well as I can see a few small areas where I don't get much detail in those either.

Overall, you did a pretty good job. If you can get a lower angle next time that always helps - it gives the viewer a real sense of being in the bird's presence if you are at eye level. You also have him pretty much midway in the frame from a horizontal perspective. If you know about the Rule of Thirds you might try to keep that in mind and go with 1/3 below the bird and 2/3 of the frame above him - this works well in most instances.

Good clarity and the colors are beautiful - the water does a great job of showing off the color palette of the bird and the head angle is very strong. You definitely have a keeper here.

[Christopher Ciccone]

Thank you for the feedback Julie! I forgot to mention that this was shot as a jpeg (I know I NEED to start shooting RAW for exactly this reason). I do have others of this bird that I like more but decided to share this one as its had the most positive feedback from friends. (I didn't know how acceptable it would be to provide a link to other pics, so I have not done s at this time)

I'll try to re-crop so that he sits lower in the frame and more in keeping with the Rule of Thirds. Again - thank you!

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Christopher and big warm welcome to BPN! You will find much more than a few tips and tricks here, there is a wealth of information here that will help you bring your wildlife photography up more than a notch. Do check out the "Tutorials and Educational Resources" section of the site and visit all of our forums to see what is going on.

You picked a nice bird to feature as your first post. This bird presents really well and has a lot of interest. You have very good basic composition and Jules' comments will help you improve. Softer light will be the key to getting better detail in both whites and blacks.

Look forward to more from you!

[Ray Rozema]

Warm welcome to BPN a great place to learn and improve your photography.


Beautiful color and detail. Julie hit it right on. Definitely would crop from the bottom and add to the top and would emphasize low angles with waterfowl makes huge difference.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Chris - another big warm welcome to the BPN Family - Nice first post and good comments from all.
Softer light is the key with black and white birds - looking forqward to seeing more.

[Julie Kenward]

Chris, shooting in RAW is most photographers' preference but you can work on jpeg's in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw). When viewing the image in Bridge right click on the image and it should give you an option to open in camera raw. It won't give you as much leeway as you'd get with a raw file but it should be somewhat workable.

[annmpacheco]

Welcome aboard Christopher, I am a "neighbor with a 7D and same lens!" Really a pretty image here and looking forward to seeing more from you... TFS Ann