IMG_0102A.jpg
Male Buffleheads
Dogwood Lake, Aiken SC, 30 Dec 2009. Cropped version of previous photo. Most of the early-2010 duck photos that follow are cropped to provide more of a close-up of the ducks.
Male Buffleheads have dramatic coloration, but are difficult to photograph. The problem seems to be a combination of: (1) the males (especially) tend to keep away from shore (so I'm using max telephoto zoom); (2) the early morning winter light is not great; (3) the light and water tend to "fool" the AUTO exposure setting on my Cannon camera, so the white areas on these ducks are overexposed; and (4) I do this handheld, so there is some camera motion (camera has "image stabilization", but it doesn't counteract all motion). When I've tried to employ manual exposure settings, that uses up time the ducks spend swmming directly away from me, so that hasn't worked out either.
Some morning I'll take a tripod with me to see if I can do more with that.
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Shutter Speed : 1/25.28
Date Time : 2009:12:30 08:02:50
Equip Model : Canon PowerShot S1 IS
Focal Length : 58
Aperture : F/3.51
