Foggy Morning Mandarin...

[Joseph Przybyla]

Yesterday morning dawned with heavy fog. When the fog had lifted a little I went to Lake Mirror, one of the lakes in Lakeland, Florida. I captured this image of a Mandarin drake at that lake. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/1000 F/5.6 Matrix Metering + 1 2/3 EV ISO 2200
Post processed in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop Elements 10
Cropped for composition, two partial Lotus leaves cleaned up on the bottom of the frame

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Joseph,

A neat and clean reflection adds to the image. It looks like a lot of detail was lost in feathers (Noise Reduction bc of high ISO?). I may have traded some ISO for SS for a cleaner shot (hindsight is 20/20!)

[Joseph Przybyla]

Joseph,

A neat and clean reflection adds to the image. It looks like a lot of detail was lost in feathers (Noise Reduction bc of high ISO?). I may have traded some ISO for SS for a cleaner shot (hindsight is 20/20!)

Hi Miguel, thanks for viewing and commenting. Thinking back I do not think a slower shutter speed was possible, the duck was in constant motion and I was hand holding. The light was very flat in the fog, no shadows or highlights, I think that contributes to less feather detail. I reworked the image using less noise reduction and a smaller radius to sharpen in Lightroom. I also think this image gives more feeling of the fog.

[Ian McHenry]

Hi Joseph
Really like and prefer the original image for colour depth.
Could possibly try a wee bit of sharpening on the forehead.
Happy New Year.

[Bill Dix]

Great look from this duck. The reflection is a plus. I, too, prefer the OP, although some selective sharpening, or Topaz Detail, on the flat areas like top of head, back and tail, might help if you can do it without bringing out more noise.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thank you all for viewing and commenting, very much appreciated.