"I am King!"

[John Goldman]

Wood duck.
Canon 5DIII, 500mm+1.4TC, f5.6, ss 1/1600sec, ISO 400.
Some crop for composition.

[John Flynn]

I love this image! It is a fresh look at a common (yet beautiful) subject. I am on my laptop but it seems a bit contrasty to me. The blacks seem to lack detail and the whites too. Have you tried recovering the detail in RAW conversion?

[steve torna]

Hi John, I like the background and the way the grass is reflected in the water. I do think that the large dark mound and the reflection of that mound in the water over-power the delicate subject and I think the mound is a distraction; it competes with the duck and draws my eye away from the drake. I would crop out the big dark mound and leave just a little real estate under the grass (he will still be on a pedestal); bring down the highlights and I think this would be a really beautiful image of a woody in the context of it's surroundings. steve

[Sandy Witvoet]

Hi John, I too love the pose, unique setting and background here. Tough call on the reflection...the brightness of the "top" of the nest and size of the reflection in the water does detract a bit from the "King". (However, just doing a "scroll crop", it somehow makes me want to see more reflection. Perhaps a bit lest contrast could address it?) Would love to know if you had considered any other crops?) I do, however LOVE that it's not just another "pretty duck in the water"!

[Edward Arthur]

An excellent shot. Really like it. For me, the BG is a scene-stealer and I would try to tone it down.

[John Goldman]

Thank you all for your comments, they are very much appreciated!

[Diane Miller]

Very nice and different view! I do think the contrast is worth some re-working, especially the grass it is sitting on. Maybe layer two conversions and mask?

[John Goldman]

Darkened the highlights, somewhat. Is better?

[Diane Miller]

Yes, I think so. With the IQ you should have from that rig, an alternate version might be to crop the mound at its water line and come in accordingly on the other edges. It's a unique shot with a great BG.

With a crop, there might be a problem with atmospheric effects, due to the distance of the subject in a humid environment, though.

[Hazel Grant]

so many of the critiques fit exactly what I was thinking, and then I saw your re-do. Oh, so much better! Good job

[Randy Stout]

John:

This shot has a lot of great things going for it. Excellent comment from the folks. Depends on how hard you want to push it, but there are still some minor things to be considered if you really want a dramatic, vs. more neutral presentation. I normally don't go for pop per se, but this one really inspires one.

Several luminosity masks to tone down the brighter highlights, and bring up the birds cheek and darks a bit. The breast really needs to be reprocessed from RAW to get the most out of it. Toned down the reflection sig. so it doesn't compete quite so much.

You have a lot to work with here, worth your time for sure!

Cheers

Randyc