Bird in habitat: eider in surf

[Myer Bornstein]

The surf was coming in somewhat heavy and this eider went under the wave and I caught it just coming out of the wave.

Nikon D3S, Sigma 50 to 500 at 500 mm,ISO 400, F9 1/1250 cropped. Adjusted in light room and Photoshop

[Arthur Morris]

Cool capture with the wave and a good job of focusing but the high contrast and the head turned away are both problems and not much you could do about either....

[Myer Bornstein]

Artie
I tried Denises painting trick How does it look now?

[Arthur Morris]

Better but hard to beat mega-contrast: black bird in white waves in bright sun....

[Michael Lotito]

Looks great considering the tough conditions. Would be interesting to see how others would handle both per and post.

[denise ippolito]

Myer, I agree w/ Artie. You were faced with a really difficult situation and you did well focusing. These guys bob up and down and roll with the surf sometimes just locking focus is tough.:)

[Craig Brelsford]

That light was very harsh, and it's hard to beat Mother Nature in that contest. Also, the bird was looking away. It's almost a great shot. Congratulations just for trying.

[Myer Bornstein]

I was on a birding walk with our group from the local Audubon Sanctuary, we were walking back from the marsh along the beach, noonish the sun was coming in of the sea, but the eider in the surf was fascinating and I was "Lucky to catch this shot just after the wave buried the eider. A polarizer on the lens would have help but this was a moment decision and also I did not have a large polarizer with me :D