I found this pair of hooded mergansers at the local wildlife refuge. The male kept diving, but kept coming up empty.
I was shooting on shutter priority at 1/1000s. I wish I had also set ISO or aperture so that I could get better focus. The camera chose f/5.6 and ISO-160. This is a close crop of a larger image with a 300mm lens. If I'd set the ISO to 800, I could have used a smaller aperture.
I tend to use manual now, but when I was using shutter or aperture priority I used aperture for shots like this and shutter for long exposure shots - like moving tubes. I thought my camera only changed the shutter time in response to the aperture and I got to set the ISO.
I love these ducks and hope to get a picture again this year. My challenge for you is this - did you ever play Tom Thumb when you were young. You had to hide your imaginary Tom Thumb and the other people had to guess where he is by asking yes and no questions. So take a photo of a really cool and tricky place to hide your Tom Thumb.
@shannejw I set the fast shutter speed, because I wanted to catch some birds in flight (not these ducks, but others). I can set the ISO or set it to AUTO. I think I need to start shooting in manual more often. Maybe that's a good project for me: shoot only in manual mode for a week.
