American Coot Quirkiness.

[Daniel Cadieux]

• Canon EOS R6
• EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x III
• ƒ/8
• 560mm
• 1/1000s
• ISO 3200
• Daniel Caxieux
• Fri, 20 January 2023 12:17 PM
• Daniel Cadieux
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 12.0.1 (Windows)

This fella was a fun subject, hanging out with multitudes of mallards. Uncommon here at best of times, and considered rare for the winter months, I was happy to get to see one from so close. Here it swam across the pond directly towards me - I almost gave up on it as it was getting very big in the frame when at the last moment it tilted its head in typical coot personality fashion. I could have zoomed out, but that would have included mallards parts when none of those were wanted lol.

Canon R6 + 100-400L II + 1.4TC III @560mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/1000s., f/8, ISO 3200, handheld, FF, a few more offending white specks spot-removed from the plumage, NR (topaz), deepened the blacks to taste via burn.

 

[William Dickson]

What a great pose it reminds me of an inquisitive labrador....Blacks look good especially against the white bill....Those red eyes are 'looking at you'....

Will

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Looks good, a little more DOF would have been nice, but at theat magnification I suspect not practicable.

 

[Paul Burdett]

Definitely a fun image Dan...crazy pose!. I bet you're glad you didn't "give up" as it approached you. TFS

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

For sure a funky looking portrait .... nice tones and colors .
Comp is great ....
DOF is special :w3, but not possible to get everything in focus .

I do like it

TFS Andreas

 

[Kurt Bowman]

Sure having everything in focus would be great, but already at f/8 I am not sure it was something you could achieve. I like the red eyes and the head tilt is great! Always see Coots as goofy birds and this one just confirms it.

 

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

The head tilt absolutely "sells" this image for me. I like the framing: the diagonal of the tilt working with the corner of the frame. Unless you were shooting with a tiny sensor, no way to get enough DOF for the entire subject at this distance, so unless you had been able to whip out your cell phone at the last second, this is the best you could do!