The ponds are finally melting here in Atlantic Canada and the ducks are beginning to return. Here is a male Hooded Merganser seen in the Sackville (New Brunswick) waterfowl park today. He was with a mate and they were using a relatively small hole in the ice. This is a North American endemic duck and has to be one of the most beautiful of all our birds.
I would like to have been closer so the crop is heavy and the melting pond it pretty scummy. I cloned some prominent items from the surface of the water but did not attempt a total cleanup.
40D, 100-400mm @ 400mm, 1/1000s, F8, ISO 400, from RAW. Av metering.
Last edited by John Chardine; 04-09-2008 at 10:58 AM.
Reason: wrong version of the image posted
I bet you're glad to see the ducks return! I'd like to see him more to the right of center rather left. cleaning up the surface would be a monumental task.
John nice sharp eye on this bird and the head angle is fairly good. I've seen several of these beautiful birds in the past 2 weeks.
I'll agree with Jim on the positioning in the frame. The white on the head looks warm on my monitor. Perhaps you could bring out a touch more details by playing with the levels.
Very nice image John, too bad that the water is dirty...:( Would be mor dramatic if you add more canvas in front of duck and crop a good portion to the right of the frame following the rule of 3rd...:D
Thanks for all the comments. Comp on this one is tough. I had lots of space in front of bird but decided to place head and eye on top-left third because there was nothing of interest in front of bird. I'll play around with comp and repost.
holes in the ice
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