It was early Spring and I was shooting mostly portrait photos of these Mergansers in a local pond. I was shooting at a lowest ISO & sacrificing shutter speed for quality as they were mostly just preening or swimming slowly. Then, all of a sudden they decided to leave the pond and I was caught by surprise and didn’t have time to change the settings. Consequently the 1/1600 shutter speed didn’t stop the action on the wing tips but everything else was pretty good.
Specific Feedback Requested
Would just like opinions on the importance (or not) of the blurred wings.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Sony a6500, SEL200600G @ 400 mm, ISO-100, f/6.3, 1/1600, hand held.
I’d say the wing blur adds, rather than detracts from the image. The heads show excellent detail and the leg action and splash from the male is great. Nice environmental setting as well.
This is beautiful,Gary! The positioning is perfect. I love the surroundings and as far as the blurred wings, it adds the needed motion to the birds. It’s very artistic looking. Great capture!
Great action, Gary, and the bit of wing blur accentuates it. I really like the poses. To me it feels as if you could bring the exposure up just a bit more.
I agree that the blurred wing tips adds to the image. In fact, I try to get the birds head sharp while getting the wings blurred when I take similar types of images. So in my view this is great!
Hi Gray
I agree with the others on the wind action. The head, eye and reflection look great. I wold like to see the framing show more of the reflection and less show bank. Great action photography.
Peter
I’m late here so only need to add my agreement – a wonderful catch – the wing blur is a plus, and the focus and detail on the birds is great. They are so nice that I would crop to remove as much of the snow bank as practical, and clone out the rest. Maybe a tad off the left as well, but I like the reflection in the water ahead of them.
