Hooded Mergansers are extreme rare vagrants in Europe, and most we see are either escapes, or offspring of an escape. As this bird isn’t wearing a ring, it’s hard to tell whether or not it’s an escape, but most likely it is. I chose for a sort of high-key image to make the bird stand out nicely.
Thanks for any comments, Cheers, Hans
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Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Nikon D500 with 500mm F4 | 1/000s | f5 | ISO640 | overexposed 1FS | handheld - in postprocessing I overexposed more
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1 Like
The high key works well here, Hans. It looks like it’s nestled into a snow bank or a cloud. Excellent job on the exposures of the blacks and whites. Even though they’re fairly common here, I’ve rarely gotten this close and it’s always been up on a dike shooting down, so this is better than anything I’ve managed.
Thanks, Dennis. When I visited it some three months ago it was very shy and always swam far away. This time it was in a much narrower section and I positioned myself quite a bit away in the direction it was swimming. So after some waiting it swam by and I made my shots… Would it have been able to pass me at a larger distance I assume it would have done that for sure 
The high key treatment really works well here. I had the same thought as Dennis with respect to the whitish area; snow, foam, cotton (just kidding). Amazing control of depth of field. Yes we do have a few of these in our neck of the woods but other merganser species are more populous. You are very fortunate to have one visit you in Europe. Very enjoyable image here.
I am not familiar with this duck, but you sure got a nice shot of him, especially if he is really shy. The high key works well, and makes him stand out nicely. Glad you got the shot of a rare bird. I know you are pleased with that.
In breeding plumage the male Hooded Merganser is one of the more beautiful ducks and you captured this one with great deal. We’re lucky, here in the Pacific Northwest, to see them fairly frequently, but not always this close. The high key element gives it a surreal feel, as if the duck is floating in the clouds.
Love the choice for high key. Very nice, image! We see these guys quite a bit in the summer, always a treat as they’re my favourite Merganser species.
