Bufflehead taken at eye level…
Specific Feedback Requested
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
D500, 500mm (300 f2.8 w/ 1.7), f5, 1/1600, iso640
Lots to like about this image:
- Love the iridescence on the bird’s face and how the color there is framed by the pale water
- the wave in front imparts so much action (did the bird just land on the water?)
There must have been specular highlights all over the front wave? Nicely toned down in post?
Pretty unique shot. The way the water rises and then spreads out with the calm water below is great. Nice eye level look at the bufflehead.
Really good focus on the bird. Nice fine feather detail. Love the colors. Colors in the water and of the bird coming thru the water. That is pretty neat. The little Bufflehead is plowing right along.
Beautiful image, Dan. For me this is more about the water than the bird,though without the bird it wouldn’t be. I don’t think you could get enough extra depth of field to get the trailing off portion of the bow wave sharp even stopping down quite a bit, but I’d sure love a camera/lens that could do that because I think it would be utterly cool.
Cool catch! The reflection in the calm water just below / ahead of the bow wave makes the wave look like its on a different plane, floating on a column.
Great shot, and the water makes the shot, of course. I love the patterns and colours. I would consider using the 3:2 aspect ratio, but that’s personal. Other than that a fine image, Dan ! Cheers, Hans
Unique photo. I don’t believe I’ve seen a bufflehead photo quite like this. Love that bow wake. Details and colors on the bird and the water are great. That bow wake is something else. My only critique is that there’s a pretty strong yellow (I think) color cast on my monitor. The below is my attempt to remove it.
When you shoot an image like this, your depth of field is really compressed. The bow wake is amazing with respect to water. If you shot this in the fall I would expect to see some yellow tones due to the reflection from the leaves. I think he would’ve been better off and had better image quality in the bird itself and F7 .1 or F8. That would’ve raised your eyes so to 1600 or so but no big deal with modern software. Oh and by the way; very cool shot!