Drake Cinnamon Teal

[David Salem]

Caught this handsome drake during our "Ducks Unlimited" workshop in Southern California. Flight frames are the only way to get a really good look at all the beautiful feathers that adorns this species. Hope you like it.

1DX---840mm---f6.3---ss1/2500---ISO640---HH@8:15am---30% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[christopher galeski]

Beautiful image Dave,IQ excellent,great BG,nice flight pose.well done.

[Ihtisham Kabir]

It's exquisite and I cannot find any fault with it (well, ok, I would turn down the blue a little bit, but that is a personal preference.) I am pleasantly surprised that f6.3 with a 840mm lens gives you wing-to-wing DOF - I know that would have eluded me for sure. Is it flying sideways but head in the correct orientation? <Scratching my head.> Beautiful image, thanks for sharing. Ihtisham

[keith mitchell]

David all the colour and detail on this look very good to me, it almost looks as though you have been above the height of the bird ,great flight shot.


Keith.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Fantastic! I love the sheen on the blue wing feathers. Excellent details, and the vertical comp is ideal. Not to mention the beautiful BG....

[Bill Dix]

Sweet. Another beauty from the duck master. No nits from me (although I could imagine a version with a little more room at top to stretch the proportion of the frame). Given the "30% crop" I assume this was shot vertically; nicely done.

[John Robinson]

Hi David
Another fine shot from the "flight" master ! I love the texture in the layers of the overlapping coverts. Just a hint of something in the tonal areas of the BG which I prefer as opposed to plain BGs.
Excellent
JohnR

[Lorant Voros]

Ah, what a beautiful image! IQ , colors and pose are fantastic.

[David Salem]

"Is it flying sideways but head in the correct orientation?"<scratching my="" head.="">


Ihtisham,

Yes, when most birds bank sideways they still need to keep their heads level. This is a very common and desirable pose for most birds in flight and is unaltered.

Thanks</scratching>

[David Salem]

"it almost looks as though you have been above the height of the bird"

Keith,

That's one of the best assets of this location and the reason we hold some of our workshop there. You are standing on a bank above the flying ducks. A pretty unique situation.

Thanks as always for your comment

[David Salem]

"Given the "30% crop" I assume this was shot vertically"

Bill,

No, this was shot in the standard horizontal orientation although I understand why you thought so, I didn't put the right crop, it was more like 45-50%. Very hard to shoot in-flight stuff vertically, I have never done it.

Thanks for your comment

[David Salem]

"I love the texture in the layers of the overlapping coverts"

John,

That is one of my favorite features in this frame and I'm glad you pointed it out.

Thanks for your comment

[Jonathan Ashton]

That really is a beautiful image the colours and pose are outstanding, a real gem of a shot.

[Arthur Morris]

Sickeningly good. I have no clue as to how you manage these consistently. I need to sign up and learn how... a

[William Dickson]

Amazing colours. I can't add any more David, except, very well done and TFS

Will

[arash_hazeghi]

amazing top side view in sweet light with sharp details, what else can you ask for?

[Alan Bryant]

Cracking top view with very nice details, top image there!

[Marina Scarr]

One of your best, David. I can't imagine a more stunning topside view of this stunning duck species.

[David Salem]

Thanks for the very nice comments everyone. I appreciate you taking the time and I'm glad you like the frame, it's one of my favorites.

Arthur,
You need to come out and shoot with us during that time of the year.
You will have a blast and You're always welcome.
Thanks for the really nice comment too.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dave, excellent banking angle showing off all the colours. You absolutely nailed the sharpness, as the feather detail shows up so well. Love the BG too. Very well captured.

[Glenn Conlan]

Spot on buddy nicely processed, another wall hanger along with the many others

[James Salywoda]

As good as it gets.

[Kirk Benson]

WOW David... had I noticed this incredible image I would have waited a year to post mine. Haha!
This is superb in every respect, it has everything you want in a dorsal view IF... in fact I've never seen a better IF of a Cinnamon Teal Drake.
Excellent work, this is as good as it gets! :-)

Kirk