Long-tailed Duck banking

[Bill Dix]

After dipping on ducks in flight at a local marsh, I made a spur-of-the-moment 2-hour drive to the Barnegat Jetty on Saturday afternoon. For once I decided to ignore the handsome Harlequins and concentrate on the Long-tails. Not much flight action there either, but I did catch a few frames of this one before he got past me.

D7000, 700mm, ISO 800, 1/2500s @ f/8 manual, gitzo and mongoose. Cropped to 45% of full width -- wish he had been closer.

[Jeroen Stel]

Lovely flight shot of a gorgeous Duck Bill!
Well done!

greetings,

Jeroen Stel

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Bill. Excellent sharpness and I like the banking pose. Very nice detail in the whites, but you may have lost some detail from the blacks on the belly and back - you might try to open those up a bit. The darker streak in the water in the ULC is drawing my eye - a minor point, but you might consider adding some of the light blue in there to blend it a little more. Overall, this is a beautiful image!

[Bill Dix]

Hi Bill. Excellent sharpness and I like the banking pose. Very nice detail in the whites, but you may have lost some detail from the blacks on the belly and back - you might try to open those up a bit. The darker streak in the water in the ULC is drawing my eye - a minor point, but you might consider adding some of the light blue in there to blend it a little more. Overall, this is a beautiful image!

Thank you Steve. I had noticed both of those issues, and should have taken to time to address them before posting. Here's a repost that addresses the dark patch in the water, (and adds just a touch of blue to the bg overall). Not much detail to bring out in the belly, but I did open it up just a bit. I appreciate your comments.

[Melissa Groo]

Great job on your repost, Bill, making a wonderful image even better. That slanted pose, the wings fully out, flying slightly towards you--just gorgeous. I think this could also work as a vertical, would be interested to see that.

[Bill Dix]

Great job on your repost, Bill, making a wonderful image even better. That slanted pose, the wings fully out, flying slightly towards you--just gorgeous. I think this could also work as a vertical, would be interested to see that.

Thanks Melissa. I actually tried it first as a vertical, but decided it didn't give him enough flying room. Here it is, with the same tweaks applied as in the above repost. I suppose it could go either way.

[Melissa Groo]

That's a tough one. I think I prefer the OP slightly.

[gail bisson]

I prefer the vertical.
Great technique to get this speedster in flight-and a banking pose at that. Exposure is great.
You must have loved seeing this one on the back of the camera,

[Bill Dix]

I prefer the vertical.
Great technique to get this speedster in flight-and a banking pose at that. Exposure is great.
You must have loved seeing this one on the back of the camera,

How'd you guess? After missing several fly-bys from these speedy ducks, and then locking in on this one, I turned to my wife and said "OK. We can go home now." Although I'm glad we didn't, because I got a nice Purple Sandpiper before I was done for the day.

[Doug Brown]

These guys fly fast! I like the banking pose and the exposure. The bird looks like it could stand some additional sharpening.

[Karl Egressy]

Great banking pose, excellent eye contact, Bill. I like the second version. Nice clean shot.

[Robert Holguin]

Wow!!!
Excellent flight shot.
Great IQ, exposed very well, excellent flight pose, and nice background.
I like the original comp.
Well done.

[christopher galeski]

very nice capture Bill,like the vertical,nice flight pose,good details.

[Frank Schauf]

Really nice flight shot and great details.

[Bill Dix]

Thanks everyone. Doug, I think you're right that a tad more USM wouldn't hurt. I was trying not to oversharpen (as I sometimes do) -- hard for me to get it just right sometimes.

[David Salem]

Great shot Bill. Techs look good as dose the banking pose. I like the vertical myself, the pose fits it best. Nice work and a great BIF.