Bufflehead (Male)

[Robert Holguin]

Hello everyone. This shot was taken a couple of weeks ago. I saw a group of these beauties, but would not give me the time of day to photograph them. So I was once again used a call. I got as low as I could and to my luck they came within range. To me this is a very, very difficult duck to expose properly. The following is the best I could do.
C&C welcomed and encouraged.
Camera - Nikon 300s, Lense - Nikon 200-400 w/1.4tc, Exposure - 1/1000, Aperture - F8, ISO - 250, Focal Length - 840mm, Metering - Multi Segment, Manual.

[Randy Stout]

Robert:

Very interesting to hear that these guys will respond to a call. They just turn and swim away whenever I get within 100 yards of them!

Yes, a challenge to expose these guys, and overall I think you struck a good balance.

Nice low shooting angle.

I would consider cropping up from the bottom at least 1/3 of the free space.

Well done!

Cheers

Randy

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Brilliant exposure and beautiful bird . I see a need for a bit of CCW rotation .

[dankearl]

The exposure is good and it looks level to me.
Agree with Randy's crop suggestion.

[gail bisson]

Terrific low angle and HA. I also like the iridescence. Another vote for cropping the bottom,
Gail

[Doug Brown]

They are the definition of an exposure nightmare! You did quite well, although I might try to pull a little more detail out of the darks. I like the idea of cropping some off the bottom.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I like that you got the colors of the head and nice pose too. The eye area feels soft to me.

[Sid Garige]

Robert,

You did pretty good with exposure considering the subject. Nice eye contact and pose.