Hooded Merganser

coastalconn · Feb 26, 2013

If you have tried to shoot these little ducks, you know they are fast and frustrating. I have this five shot landing sequence that I like, but I want to know what you think about my self critiques. I can be pretty harsh on myself, and I don't want others to think I'm being too harsh on them if I leave constructive criticism.. Overall it seems impossible to not blow the whites in the head no matter what I try. Maybe it is the lack of DR on the D300. If I shoot at ISO 800 I have no chance. These are all shot at ISO 400 and wide open at F6.3 trying to freeze the action.

1- I really like this one except the stupid reed that was between us. 1/1250 left a little motion blur, but pretty sharp

Hooded Merganser Flight and Landing 1 by krisinct, on Flickr

2- shutter speed dropped to 1/1000th causing a little too much motion blur to be perfectly sharp

Hooded Merganser Flight and Landing 2 by krisinct, on Flickr

3 1/1600th good shutter speed but this one feels flat or something like I lost my details in the shadows.. I like the pre-landing position. Almost like air-brakes

Hooded Merganser Flight and Landing 3 by krisinct, on Flickr

4 again 1/1600th. I like the funny landing position but I feel I missed focus a bit

Hooded Merganser Flight and Landing 4 by krisinct, on Flickr

5 1/2000th on this one.. Got a nice pose, well lit, but I think another reed was between us and did something funny to his head/eye and he is swimming towards a big pile of poop

Hoode Merganser Flight and Landing 5 by krisinct, on Flickr

irfan.in.tx · Feb 26, 2013

I like No. 3, and 4 and 5 are nice too. If the light is good, go for the higher shutter speeds; if its handheld, then you need at least 1/focal length to avoid handholding blur. The blownout whites in such birds are a problem, since its hard to spot meter on the white wings -- one solution is to underexpose by 1/3 to keep the whites from blowing out.

Rafterman · Feb 26, 2013

coastalconn said:
If you have tried to shoot these little ducks, you know they are fast and frustrating.

YES! ARGH! They sometimes visit the pond behind our house, and see me coming from a mile away with camera in hand. I can't get within 100ft before they take off. There are two pairs that visit about once a week, but I believe they only winter in North Carolina, so if I don't get them soon, I'll have to wait until about November to try again. One day, victory will be mine! One day...

Your shots are nice. Wish I could get close enough to even get a photo of them at all, let alone have the white on their heads over exposed.

baturn · Feb 26, 2013

I think #'s 3 and 4 are great with excellent detail and action. Actually the only one I see anything at all wrong with, is #2 and it just seems a little flat compared to the others.

ryanparker · Feb 27, 2013

Oh wow! These are exquisite. Thank you so much for sharing them.

ceeboy14 · Feb 27, 2013

Looking at them on blackscreen, none of them are as sharp and crisp as I've come to expect from you but know the task you have at hand which was the same as I had with those dang warblers. I almost automaticially shoot at -.3 EV when shooting birds, especially atop water as I find it does help to stop some of the white blowouts. Not sure why you can't shoot at ISO 800 but may have to do with your camera. I almost always shoot there when doing birds if I need super high shutter speeds (1/2500 or more). On a bright sunny day, though, it is rare I can't get to 1/1600 at ISO 200. Now if I could just learn to get better panning actions...sighhhhhh.

ceeboy14 · Feb 27, 2013

Image #3 just needed a bit of color depth pop which is not to be confused with saturation pop and is performed in channels rather than in an overall context. There are several ways you can do this though for the most part, I used LAB on several sequential layers. Again, as I tell everyone, this is not necessarily better, but is probably different and is done as much for my learning benefit as your ability to also gain a positive experience as well.

coastalconn · Feb 27, 2013

Noise drives me crazy! At ISO 800 the DR on the D300 drops off considerably. I've tried to shoot at -.3 and -.7 on these guys but it comes out really underexposed and blacks tend to get clipped. The lack of sharpness is probably because it is wide open and I think you really need a shutter speed of 1/2000th to stop the tiniest bit of motion blur.. I think they fly about 45 MPH.. No one ever said it is easy

On the reprocess I'm not really sure about "layers" I have tried layers in Photoshop before but I get really confused and end up no where....