The Harlequin Duck is one of the most impressive waterfowl in the world. In addition to being downright beautiful, it spends its entire life on literal bone-breaking waters. Summering on rapids and fast-moving water around the northern part of North America, it then winters along high-latitude coasts of the northern hemisphere, continually getting battered by ferocious waves. As a result, the Harlequin Duck usually winds up with the most broken bones of any bird.
This seldom seen visitor to the lower 48 makes regular appearances in Yellowstone National Park during the spring and early summer. It’s routinely found along the LeHardy Rapids of the Yellowstone River before the males migrate out and the females begin raising their young.
How I Processed It
Much of the processing came from the shot itself. In this case, I came away with a mix of action shots of the birds in the rapids, as well as still shots. For the still shots, however, I wanted to slow down the rapids to create a bit of motion blur. Because the rapids were moving so quickly, I was able to get away with a 1/30 of a second shutter speed. To get that though, I had my ISO at 50 and my aperture at f/11. Reducing the amount of light coming hitting the sensor allowed for the slower shutter speed, which was enough in this case to blur the rapids.
Back on the computer, I reduced the brightness of the waves to even out the exposure a bit more, while concentrating on the Harlequin Duck itself. With such striking but subdued colors, I wanted to minimize the saturation around it to help the colors on the duck pop more. I brightened him up a bit and using a mask, applied a small bit of extra processing to him to help his features stand out more. You know you’ve gone too far though if your subject looks “Photoshopped” in.