Mallard on a wall

[Iain Barker]

I found this Mallard sat on top of a wall in the early morning sun in a woodland. I liked the location and the unusual background.

Nikon D7000 300mm f4 + 1.4x tc; 1/1600 sec f5.6, ISO 800.

[gail bisson]

I too like the unusual perch.
I also like the flower.
I think the head is soft and I would sharpen it a bit more.
The branches in the BG have a bit of an eastern asian art feel to it but they are a tad distracting.
Gail

[Daniel Cadieux]

Pretty unusual perch, in a good way, and that single flower adds a lot of punch to the image despite its very small size. I also like the moss carpet on that rock. I agree the head looks soft, looks like critical focus may have locked on to the rock facade?

[Jonathan Ashton]

An unusual shot indeed, love the rock and the duck, the background is just a little intrusive for my taste, it may be worthwhile considering a light brushing to reatain some faint detail so there is less contrast - making it less distracting.

[Iain Barker]

Thanks all I agree the head looks a little soft and the background although different, is also a little distracting. Here is a quick repost with some USM in photoshop where I also did a quick selection on the background and reduced the contrast of it slightly.
I noticed the raw image looked sharper in lightroom that the exported jpg, doe that normally point to the image needing more sharpening after export?