Redhead in flight

[Derek_Lauzon]

Here's a shot of a Redhead in flight. Went with a larger crop here, should I have made it tighter?

150284

Nikon D800
600mm F4
F 5.6
1/3200
ISO 400

All C&C welcomed, thanks for looking.

[David Salem]

Great job catching this Redhead in-flight, Not an easy thing to get. I like the flight angle and the head position with some real solid eye contact but the head intersecting the wing is not quite as desirable, but definitely not a deal breaker.
Your techs look good overall and I would shorten up the crop a little bit, i would push the bird back a bit and then take some off from the front. Another round of sharpening will improve this for web presentation. Well done.

[gail bisson]

Lovely incoming flight shot.
I would not crop any tighter.
The IQ on the duck is very nice.
I would clone out or dodge the green lines above the head and behind the bird. I would also clone out the specular highlights in the green line above the head.
Another suggestion would be to decrease the blue in the ice. It just doesn't seem right to my eye but if that is how it was IRL then disregard the last comment.
I will often try 1. color balance by using the eye dropper and if that fails 2.I might go to selective color in CS5 and decrease the blacks in the "whites" selection.
Gail

[Sharon Hallowell]

The flight pose and angle are excellent. What a great bird to get in flight! I'm seeing a cyan cast overall, but it is most notable on the white of the breast and under the left wing. Correct for that and I think the ice may look more natural. Sharon

[Diane Miller]

Good eye, Sharon. I did a Color Balance and pulled the cyan-red slider a little toward red and then a Hue-Sat adjustment layer and desaturated Cyan and Blue, and liked the result.

I like the crop, but couldn't argue with a little off the right. Great catch!!

[Derek_Lauzon]

Thanks for all the feedback.

[Mike Moynihan]

I expect this photo was taken in the Detroit River or the St Clair river which is very blue. It's always an interesting question, to me, whether I attempt to remove the colour cast or leave it as it was shown in the wild. Great photo Sir!