I find these birds a very difficult shot to get overall proper exposure when they are in sunlight. Of course out of sunlight they are also difficult. If you get enough light to give definition to the feathers, you wind up blowing out the white beak or tailfeathers.
I appreciate any suggestions. I suppose one option would be to underexpose a bit.

TIA

Hey Durwood,

Thanks for sharing. The exposure looks pretty well nailed. At first, I thought that the beak was clipping, but when I looked at the image in PS, I saw that it was not.

The composition is nice. The light is warm, and it lands attractively on the bird, however (now the critical part), I would not say that the photo has a lot of drama to it. I also find the background a bit distracting from the subject. For example, the reeds pull my eyes away from the coot.

Over-all though a nice shot. Other thoughts?

James


James