Camera Labs

I was out enjoying the weather after the snowfall today and remembered the beautiful Mandarin ducks elsewhere in this forum-section. So I figured I'd stand up for the the Regular Joe Duck and for my 6MP D40 with it's punchy colors..lol. No picture can do these beautiful birds justice, but that's the best I could do on short notice.

Anyone and everyone with suggestions and/or comments, fire away!

Taken in Deer Lake, Burnaby, Vancouver around 4PM PST.


Nikon D40 w. 55-200mm VR
ISO 200, F5.6, 1/320sec
Focal Length: 200mm
Exposure Bias Value = -0.67EV

Here's another gaggle of excited ducks. As you can see, they muscled out any other type of birds.

ISO 200, F5, 1/500sec
Focal Length: 200mm
Exposure Bias Value = -0.67EV

Last, but nor least, an intrepid gull shows up to see what all the excitement is all about. In spite of it's eternal vigilance, a daring duck manage to sneak up on shore behind his back! (I can almost hear the Pink Panther theme playing)

ISO 200, F5.6, 1/320sec
Focal Length: 200mm
Exposure Bias Value = -0.67EV

Downrezzing done in Benvista Photozoom Pro 2.3 (S-Spline XL)
A touch of vignetting done in Photoshop (making a virtue of necessity with the slight, but noticeable falloff in the corners at extreme zoom)

oh, LahLah....I was laughing, looking at bachelor number two smiling for the camera...lol..but wait, is that his girlfriend, right there, smiling, too?
I think so!! That shot I like alot....a mallard mosh...
Good photos, am glad you took your camera out today!!

patti

_________________
canon 7D, Mark iii 5D, ef 70-300 f/4-5.6, ef 28-135mm canon 100-400mm L IS 4.5, and a little 24-70 L f/2.8...

yes, #2 is great. he has this " hay look at me!" look. lol
nice shots.

Nick

_________________
Canon Rebel XTI, Tamron 70-300mm w/180-300 macro AF, Canon 18-55mm,Canon 50mm F1.8, Sandisk ExtremeIII 2gig.
Nikon N2020.My Flickr

Lovely colourful shots, love the mini play on going. I could watch these guys all day long.

Thanks for sharing

Cheers Ormina

_________________
Canon G9 , Canon 400D, Canon 40D

LahLahSr, did you use a flash? Some of those lovely ducks have that kind of reflection...

_________________
Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Nice shots - I like the low light, late in the Winter's day, and also the lower angle so you feel you're amongst the ducks. This works really well on the second one.

The colours are really very nice!

The ducks called and told me to thank you all for the nice words They'll be there all week for other shows..lol. My thanks to you all as well - I love my D40!!

I did try some fill flash on the second one. The reflection on the foreground-ducks is a little too harsh - good eyes there Thomas! The others are "au natural". I perhaps overdid the vignetting on that second one, making the flash a little too obvious.

These critters don't sit still for very long..had to grab a lot of shots..50+ to get these three. Wings flapping in front, others taking off.

It's a real good practical test for the auto focus to keep track of all this movement, but they are handsome birds to behold..especially in the light of the setting winter sun.

Cheers