Hooded mergansers full display (self image critique)

[Steve Foss]

Hey all:

Here are a few images from day two of the Shagawa River, on-my-belly-in-the-muck shoot.

So much could have been amazing about these images, and I'll say up front they're OK, but I'll also point out myself what's wrong with each one. Partly, the light was so atrocious that at the f8 needed to produce very sharp images, shutter speeds at iso400 were a bit low to stop action. So does one open up the 100-400 and get images that are just a bit softer, or opt for the way I did it? Hmmmm. I learn, you learn.

All with the Canon Digital Rebel XT (350D), Canon 100-400L IS at 400mm, iso400, f8, handheld

1/125

Least drama of the three, but best execution. I give this a B+ or A-

1/200

While the most active of the two is the one in focus (which is good), focusing on the first bird at f8 from 40 feet would have allowed the second bird to be acceptably in focus, and it's better to have both in focus in this image than the front bird OOF. The water droplets are nice, but even the in-focus bird shows OOF spots on the crest. This gets a C+

1/250

Again, it's the center bird that's in sharpest focus, and by selecting the first bird for point of focus, the second bird, and perhaps the third, would have been acceptably in focus. I'll give this one a B instead of a lower grade simply because it's got three prime drakes in breeding plumage, always a nice sight

[jonny_redhorse]

sweet pics Steve........

[Jim Almquist]

Great shots considering how gray it has been and looks like we could have the same all week.They are such a neat bird I might have to try and get on my tummy for a while

[Dbl]

I do like that first shot, very nice.