Merganser in Silhouette

[PJM]

It was around 8:00 am on a bright, sunny day. I was in my kayak heading into the sun and spotted some ducks on a rock. My thought was to try and capture this duck in silhouette against the sun sparkling on the water.

Nikon D5600 cropped sensor w/ 70-300mm zoom at 150mm.
1/2500 sec, f/11, ISO 100
Exposure bias: -1 2/3 EV (this was not intentional and I'm not sure how it got set this way)

I have posted both the edited and original shot along with the LR settings I changed.

This is my first attempt at a silhouette like this so I will gladly take any critique and suggestions on how I could have shot it or edited it better.

Have at me

1. Edited
Edited-1 by Peter Martin, on Flickr

2 Original
Original-1 by Peter Martin, on Flickr

 

[bulldurham]

As much as I would like to tell you a way to make this a better shot, I cannot. It is terribly underexposed and wasn't shot to be a silhouette, though that's what you thought you were doing. I posted an example of what happens when you don't check your camera settings prior to shooting in this thread. Zero out you EV, try 5.6 at 1/640-1/1250 @ISO 100 next time you chance upon another merganser. For a silhouette, I tend to overexpose for the shadows in camera and underexpose in PS or LR for the highlights. Also, watch your horizon lines.

 

[Space Face]

Pretty much nailed by bull. I agree totally.

 

[PJM]

Yes, that was a stupid error.
Thank you for the comments. I will try that the next time.

 

[bulldurham]

There isn't a soul on here that hasn't done something stupid...like shooting a point and shoot with the lens cap on...