Northern Shoveler in the Fall Leaves

Posted by LindaY on Sun Nov 02, 2003 4:55 pm

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We get a lot of ducks here in the fall so this morning I went out to one of the small lakes and tried to at least act like I knew what I was doing.

Some of the usual cast of fall characters was there and I got some pretty good shots of some American Widgeons. I gotten up off the ground and was getting ready to leave when I saw this Northern Shoveler standing at the edge of the water in some fall leaves. So I got back down and took a few shots. Sorry I didn't get a good view of his feet but the leaves are beginning to fall quite a bit and somehow, I couldn't get him to kick away the leaves.

Canon D60, EF 70-200mm f4.0L, Canon 1.4X tele-extender, ISO 200, f5.6, 1/200 sec.

Linda Yee

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by Bill Whala on Sun Nov 02, 2003 6:04 pm

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Linda,

You did an excellent job with the exposure. Those red legs are a real treat. The shovelers around here rarely let anyone see them out of the water. Since you left room for the virtual feet, I think you did fine there as well.

Pretty duck, nice pose. Excellent image.

Bill Whala

"Aves of similar plumage tend to converge with one another"

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by Neil Fitzgerald on Sun Nov 02, 2003 6:19 pm

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Feet look fine to me. I like the way this guy is standing, he looks real proud of himself. The white background to the right bothers me just a little. If you could have moved a little either side you might have been able to hide it behind the ducks body or out of shot. Of course you might have ended up with something else comming into view.

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by Alan Murphy on Sun Nov 02, 2003 6:27 pm

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Nice shot Linda.

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by Wil Hershberger on Sun Nov 02, 2003 7:24 pm

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Linda,
This is a wonderful photo. You really caught him at his best. I hope that you don't mind that I did a little PS to your shot to make it pop. Here I used curves to brighten the mid-tones, darken the mid-blacks and I added a little saturation.
What a terrific shot you have.

[url=http://www.cricketman.blogspot.com][b]Wil Hershberger[/b][/url] | [b]NSN0025[/b]
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by AlexC on Sun Nov 02, 2003 10:29 pm

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What a wonderful beak!!!, Very nice indeed!!! Congrats!!!

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by Laura Stiefel on Sun Nov 02, 2003 10:52 pm

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I don't think I've ever seen a Shoveler out of water! He really let you get close. It sure looks like you knew what you were doing!

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by Alan Melle on Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:10 am

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Nice shot! Wil's repost shows just how good this one is.

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by Brian L. Zwiebel on Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:43 am

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At best this bird is difficult to expose for, even with digital I imagine. At worst it is darn near impossibl to get detail in darks w/o blowing whites. I think you did a fine job with the exposure.

I also like seeing the bird out of the water. And a slight hint of the blue wing patch is showing.

Well Done!

BZ

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by E.J. Peiker on Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:56 am

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It's rare to see these guys out of the water - a nice capture. I hink the repost is overdone in the red channel.

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by Mike Wilson on Mon Nov 03, 2003 1:49 pm

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Cool shot. Not easy to get these guys out of the water and relatively close. Interesting plumage shown here, he's almost in his breeding best.

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by LindaY on Mon Nov 03, 2003 2:11 pm

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Thanks to all of you for your comments on this one.

I was really surprised to see this guy standing on the bank out of the water too. We get a lot of these on this particular little lake, but usually they spend most of their time swimming around will their bills skimming the surface of the water. It's easy to see where they get their name. I took a couple of shots of this one, but this one is the one that I liked best because of the way that he is extending his head. In the others he had his head kind of hunched down. I like the detailing on the alternate version, although I will have to agree with E.J. that it is a bit more reddish than is natural.