An hour at the Cobourg harbour.

Harv

Today I decided to head down to the harbour with my 1D MkIII and 500 f/4L IS, and shoot some divers in hope of improving my keeper rate. Lo and behold, the harbour had frozen over completely last night and all the Longtails, Scaups, Buffleheads, Goldeneyes and Mergansers were out in the open waters of the lake itself.

All that was available was Mallards, Canada Geese and Gulls. As I was already there I decided they would make good practice if I could get some in the air. What follows is just a small sampling of my keepers, in no particular order. I hope these don't bore you too much.

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.


Thanks for looking.

slodave

Those are up close and personal! Nice pics. I like the Seagull skimming the "water".

Giphsub

Awesome work Harv! Up close and personal indeed! I have trouble keeping them in the frame when moving that close! Good work.

Pilznr

WOW Those are some awesome shots! I like #7, he's totally watching you, and I think #8 was aiming right for you. Simply Amazing. Great colors on the Mallards.

Harv

slodave wrote:

Those are up close and personal! Nice pics. I like the Seagull skimming the "water".

Thanks a lot, Dave. I appreciate you looking in.

JenGrace

Awesome bif's! Better than I could ever hope to get.

Harv

Giphsub wrote:

Awesome work Harv! Up close and personal indeed! I have trouble keeping them in the frame when moving that close! Good work.

Thanks a lot, Mike. I'm no different than you. I find it tough to keep them in the frame as well, especially at 500mm. However, most of these were not close to being frame fillers, and were moderate crops for the most part. A couple of the Mallard shots were heavy crops.

Harv

Pilznr wrote:

WOW Those are some awesome shots! I like #7, he's totally watching you, and I think #8 was aiming right for you. Simply Amazing. Great colors on the Mallards.

Thanks very much for the kind words, Matt. Appreciated. Remember, even a blind squirrel finds the occasional acorn. That would be me.

Harv

JenW wrote:

Awesome bif's! Better than I could ever hope to get.

Thanks a lot Jen. Don't sell yourself short. I've looked at your gallery and you have the talent. All it takes is a bit of practice. You'd be doing it in no time at all.

Ric Grupe

I like the first Mallard female and the Gull. thumb

The mallard is a very unique flight pose.

The shades of gray in the gull shot are amazing. I might have cheated on that one and punched the yellow up a bit...but that's just me.

Nice to see you posting, Harv.:D

darkdragon

Good shots. 5, 6, and 7 are my favorites. I love the tounge in 5, the gull looks so Grumpy in 6 it's great, and 7 shows everything I like about male mallards. They are so pretty and so simple, I've liked them since I was a kid.

Harryb

Excellent collection of BIFs.

Harv

Ric Grupe wrote:

I like the first Mallard female and the Gull. thumb

The mallard is a very unique flight pose.

The shades of gray in the gull shot are amazing. I might have cheated on that one and punched the yellow up a bit...but that's just me.

Nice to see you posting, Harv.:D

Thanks a lot, Ric. I've been pretty busy the last 2-3 months. My father-in-law passed away and I had my hands full with a litter of puppies who have all gone to their new families now. Things have quieted down some now and I hope to be a little more active.

Harv

darkdragon wrote:

Good shots. 5, 6, and 7 are my favorites. I love the tounge in 5, the gull looks so Grumpy in 6 it's great, and 7 shows everything I like about male mallards. They are so pretty and so simple, I've liked them since I was a kid.

Thanks a lot for the kind words. Much appreciated. Mallards are pretty common and many folks tend to ignore them around here but they are usually willing subjects.

Harv

Harryb wrote:

Excellent collection of BIFs.

Thanks very much, Harry. I appreciate you stopping in.

raptorcaptor

Some nice bifs there Harv! Like the Canada Goose shot best!

riddim_maker

We usually tend to favor raptors and such over mallards and seagulls,
but they do make awesome and challenging subjects,
especially when rendered in this fashion: Simply Awesome

Maestro

All are nice but the female mallard BIFs are extremely good.

Harv

raptorcaptor wrote:

Some nice bifs there Harv! Like the Canada Goose shot best!

Thanks a lot, Glenn. Much appreciated.

Harv

riddim_maker wrote:

We usually tend to favor raptors and such over mallards and seagulls,
but they do make awesome and challenging subjects,
especially when rendered in this fashion: Simply Awesome

Thanks a bunch, Russ. You're way too kind.

Harv

Maestro wrote:

All are nice but the female mallard BIFs are extremely good.

Hey, Stephen. Thanks for stopping in and commenting.

PrescottPhotog

Harv wrote:

I hope these don't bore you too much. Thanks for looking.

Hi Harv.. Just my kind of shots, up close and lots of detail. The lakes have been frozen around here most mornings but melt off by mid afternoon so when the birds start coming in you can get some great up close shots.. just like your..

Harv

PrescottPhotog wrote:

Hi Harv.. Just my kind of shots, up close and lots of detail. The lakes have been frozen around here most mornings but melt off by mid afternoon so when the birds start coming in you can get some great up close shots.. just like your..

Thanks a lot, Chris. I hope one day to be able to consistently get the quality of shots you post. IMHO, you set the standard to which I aspire. Keep posting those shots as they give me the incentive to improve.