Foggy Morning Mandarin...

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image a while back on a morning that dawned with heavy fog. I was itching to get outside so when the fog began to lift I went to a nearby lake in the center of Lakeland, Florida. I found this Mandarin drake slowly swimming amongst the lily pads. 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 EV +1 2/3 ISO 2000 AWB
Post processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC 2017
Cropped for composition and presentation, canvas added

[arash_hazeghi]

pretty Image Joe, I really like the calm water and the relatively clean reflection. The ducks is too small in the frame and doesn't show much details as posted, I would crop this one tight and get rid of those leaves, IMO they don't add much to this photo given their angle and placement....

TFS

[Isaac Grant]

Agree with Arash that the water and reflection are very nice. I would take some off from below and give the pic a little clockwise rotation as well.

[Jim Keener]

I like the composition. Maybe some refinements based on what the photographer intends. This image can mean several things, and as cropped means, to me, peace. Reflection, in the cognitive sense. A closer crops would say, "Here is a gorgeous bird." Both are worth saying. It depends on the intent of the artist.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Joe, lovely angled pose, and the colours really pop against the lighter water. I quite like the leaves in the water.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing, commenting, and suggesting improvements. Very much appreciated... I have worked on this image several times trying to find a pleasing composition and one the image would hold up to when viewed. First I tried the bird larger in the frame (as Arash suggested) but because of the fog, diminished light, and my gear the image would not hold up when viewed larger. The tool that helped the most was the recent addition of a DeHaze filter in Lightroom. Thanks again all...