Capturing Wild Canvasbacks

In this video, pro wildlife photographer Doug Gardner ventures to the edge of downtown Cambridge, Maryland, where he shows you how to photograph migrating canvasbacks in the bay. The challenge is to exclude the bridge and other manmade structures in the background. Wearing waders, Doug gets two feet off the water and uses a 500mm telephoto at f4 or f5.6 to compress his images and avoid the distracting backgrounds. To stop the action, he keeps his shutter speed at at least 1/1000 and exposes for the highlights. For sharpness, he goes with autofocus. Come along with pro Doug Gardner as he shoots dramatic images of the canvasbacks flying and landing, and also captures them in pairs and as individual portraits.

See all videos in our Photographing Waterfowl Along the Eastern Coast Course:

• Photographing Waterfowl Along the East Coast—Course Preview
• Photographing Wildlife in the South Santee Marsh
• Capturing Wild Canvasbacks
• Photographing Snow Geese in the Wild
• Photographing Swans
• Waterfowl Photography: Tips and Techniques