Female Wood Duck.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The males are performing beautifully as per usual at this time of year, but I also gave some love and attention to the females. Images of this species are a dime-a-dozen as they are ultra tame at this spot, so when photographing them it is as much about choosing the best water colours and patterns.

Canon 7DII + 500mm f/4 II, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/200s., f/5, ISO 1600, natural light, handheld, FF, a few specks in the water removed via spot removal tool, same for some minor bill cleanup. Darkened the pupil.NR to the BG.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Quite different water colors, wondering why. I think the females are just as nice, maybe not as colorful but a loveliness in their mid-tone colors. Thank you for sharing, Dan.

[Isaac Grant]

Colors on this one are great. I really like the whole color palette and how well it compliments this female. Head angle is perfect as well. On the 5k Imac the head does not look tack sharp to me. With a moving duck and such a low shutter speed it must be really difficult to freeze the action.

[Arthur Morris]

Wicked water, and a perfect front-end vertical image design.

with love, artie

[annmpacheco]

Cool water Daniel and terrific capture. Great looking eye that just pops with the yellow eye ring, HA tops!

[John Mack]

Gorgeous. Love the red/green water. Very well executed here.

[Mike Diersing]

Beautiful colors in the water and I love how the iridescence of the feathers compliment it. Normally i'd prefect the water to be calm as glass for mirror-like reflections but here the slight ripple works better, especially with the greens and reds.