Long-tailed Duck

[Colin Gilyeat]

Another from the Barnegat IPT.
124179
I struggled with the whites on this one and I still think they are a little hot.
PP in LR 4 for levels, curves adjestment and NR, a little selective sharphening on thed and eye on CS5

Cropped a little from the left side, top and bottom, image is about 85% of the original

Nikon D7000
Sigma 150-500@500mm
ISO400
f/10
1/2000
Handheld

Comments & criticisms are welcome

Thanks,
Colin

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely bird and lovely capture. Love the curled up tail and the water droplets on the face. I think the whites look pretty good. I would take just a tad off of the left. I think you would find the comp just a little more pleasing to the eye.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Colin - you got a great pose with a good HA and the tail curl. I'm jealous. Having the benefit of having been there with you, I thought the water looked brighter and lighter than I remembered it. I ran a luminosity mask on the image at 45%. Let me know what you think.

TFS,
Rachel

[gary ellwein]

Good pose with the tail feathers well presented. The whites appear to be nicely under control. Suggest attempting to bring out a bit more detail in the darkest wing feathers.

[Robert Holguin]

Very nice shot.
Great pose, exposure is spot on, nice detials, and I really like the tails feathers rasied.
Well done.

[Satish Ranadive]

Beautiful image. Very nicely exposed.I like the pose with nice HA, curly tail,blue water and composition.
Love the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

[Colin Gilyeat]

Thanks for the commens everyone.
@Marina, when I get home this evening, I'll recrop it and get a repost up.
@Rachel, I think you are right, I'll have to llok at my original, but I suspect the water in the one I posted is the result of globally adjusting curves instead of selectively on the duck. I do like your repost.

Thanks,
Colin

[Faraaz Abdool]

Great shot Colin, I love that curled tail. Whites look ok to me.

[Wynand van Wyk]

Whites look perfect to me as well. I really like the colours and detail! That eye is beautiful.

[Colin Gilyeat]

As i posted earlier, here's the recropped version with a little off the left as Marina suggested. I do like it better with just that little cropped off.

124222

Thanks,

Colin

[Karl Egressy]

Great pose, excellent HA nice overall. Great work Colin.