Monday, November 18, 2013

Bufflehead

Spent some time at Ambleside again on Saturday and tried to locate the Harris's sparrow for a couple of photogs there unsuccesfully, one guy had been there all morning, at least there were other birds to shoot and i wasn't there for the sparrow myself anyways.

My photog friend Peter Holmes had mentioned in an email that a Eurasian Wigeon was currently at the pond and i had seen buffleheads there last weekend already so another short trip over was called for since i enjoy shooting ducks immensely for some reason.

The first thing i heard when arriving was the call of a drake Hooded Merganser, displaying for a female, sweet.

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spotted the Eurasian Wigeon soon after, not the first time i've had one of these birds at Ambleside.

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The real personal highlight for me was getting a couple of decent shots of Bufflehead as the session was winding down. I shoot these guys every year with varying degrees of success, i find the camera has a hard time dealing with the white and dark contrast of the bird and blowout is always a concern, not an easy bird to shoot IMO.

I used to think that i needed flash to bring out the subtle irridescence in the face but i guess not. 

ISO 400, f/5.6 700mm (500mm f4 + 1.4x tele), no flash. 
RAW file post-processed though to bring out those details that are subtle in the white.

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one more buffy

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3 comments:

Unknown said...

Gorgeous work, Paul; I love them all! Spectacular detail on every duck.

Logan

Paul said...

thanks Logan, i never know if anyone even looks at this blog so getting a comment like yours is cool : )

Martin said...

Was planning my upcoming trip to Trini this summer, found your pics, and have been here for 20min now. I concur in fabulous shots of the bufflehead and lots of other greats pics!

The Waiting Area

The Waiting Area