Sitting Pretty

[Bill Dix]

I watched this lone Red-breasted Merganser drake for an hour last night at my local lake. He occasionally swam almost within range -- this is a pretty large crop. I thought he was going to do a wing-flap for me, but he just sat up for a second, and settled back down, sans flap. Still, I rather liked this pose. C&C appreciated.

D7000, 700mm, ISO 800, 1/2500s @ f/7.1 manual, tripod

[Karl Egressy]

Wow, great pose you captured here, Bill. He might even did some wing flapping for you. Next image, maybe?

[stuart wanuck]

Lovely bill

[gail bisson]

I love the drakes.
Pretty good IQ for the big crop.
Good HA and love the pose.
I like the iridescent green in the head feathers and the way the tail is perked up.
Gail

[Nick Palmieri]

Great pose and nice hair...Looks like he's getting ready flap.

[Marina Scarr]

Interesting and unique pose just before the flap. Nice exposure and details. The crop isn't quite working for me. I wouldn't mind seeing how it would look with a more conventional horizontal crop.

[Bill Dix]

Interesting and unique pose just before the flap. Nice exposure and details. The crop isn't quite working for me. I wouldn't mind seeing how it would look with a more conventional horizontal crop.

You're quite right, Marina. I've been using a pano crop on some other duck images recently, because of their elongated shapes. With this upright pose, a more conventional 3:2 crop might be as good or better.

[Marina Scarr]

The RP brings the image up another notch, Bill!

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Love the pre-flap pose (and interesting that he didn't flap) with a subtle head turn and the taut tail.
The colors on this fella are gorgous. Low angle, nice looking water and perfect exposure.
Comp wise, I'm not sure of the RP. It could do with a little less space on the top.

[christopher galeski]

nice image,great pose,nice light.

[vishaljadhav]

Bill the new crop works nicely to my eye, the bird looks nice and the water compliments it nicely .
Great job done with catching this pose.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I'll give a slight edge to the repost comp, but both work well IMO. Pretty nice IQ for the large crop. Low angle works well and exposure is perfect for what could have been a difficult subject. I like the pose. I'm wondering if the image needs a slight CW rotation...but no one has mentioned it yet so perhaps its just me.

[Bill Dix]

I'll give a slight edge to the repost comp, but both work well IMO. Pretty nice IQ for the large crop. Low angle works well and exposure is perfect for what could have been a difficult subject. I like the pose. I'm wondering if the image needs a slight CW rotation...but no one has mentioned it yet so perhaps its just me.

Thanks Daniel. I did give it just the slightest CW rotation in the initial PP. I wondered if I had gone far enough; it's hard to tell.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Bill, wing flap or not, I still like the pose with the 'puffed' out chest, and spikey hairdo. Overall well exposed, lovely sheen on the head, and I prefer your OP. I can see where Dan is coming from with regards to some CW rotation. Looking at the line of water where the body is in the water, it seems to be running down to the left, thus the need for some CW rotation.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice image indeed,love the colours the pose and the very good detail. I would suggest a tad of clockwise rotation half a degree maybe even less.

[Bill Dix]

Thanks everyone. I'll go back to the master file and try a little bit more rotation, and maybe find a crop half-way between the pano OP and the 3:2 RP. I appreciate all the comments.

[Petros Petrou]

Great image of a quite difficult subject. It seems that they never get close enough... IQ is very good for a large crop and the pose is fine even without wing flapping. I prefer the re-post by a small margin. I am not sure for the CW rotation. It looks as it needs just a little rotation but sometimes the waves can be deceiving.

[Shawn Zierman]

Perfect light quality and light angle for this contrasty subject. The pose is awesome.
One does not see that many well lit images of this species/(male)...this is a dandy.
Compositionally, I prefer the repost.

[Sandy Witvoet]

Love it! RP is better.... posture works just fine. Love the "eye". Tough subject and you did a GREAT job!