Doing a bit of touch up for the girls

[Randy Stout]

This woody drake was doing a bit of grooming trying to impress the hens. Taken recently on a small vernal pond.

Z6. 500mm f/4 with TC-14. f/5.6, ISO 2800. 1/800s. Taken from my sled blind, sitting on the edge of the pond

Post: Small crop to level and for comp. Cleaned up several spots in the water. Noise reduction to water only.

Advice and comments always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[Mike Poole]

Simple and beautiful Randy, lovely colours and IQ, and the water was perfect for a low level shot like this. Nice extra bit of interest with the preening

Mike

[David Roach]

Knocked this one out of the park... Ditto Mike's assessment. TFS

[John Mack]

Very nice. Like the preening pose and the low angle with the reflection. Neat background as well.

[dankearl]

Another nice frame.
I think the colors on the duck are pretty subdued at least for the ones I see every day.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Dan, I guess the vibrance level comes from the quality of the light reaching the bird. He is deep in the woods.

Cheers

Randy

[Bill Dix]

Great preening pose, lovely light and background, POV. I was going to say that it felt just a bit cool, but I think you addressed that.

[annmpacheco]

Hi Randy, POV, soft colors, and nice flared iridescent feathers, all nice! I also like the look he's giving you.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Very Nice Image. like the looks.

Image needs more vibrance for my taste

Love the point of view, reflection and background colors.

TFS

[Randy Stout]

Thanks everyone.

I have bumped up the vibrance a bit on the repost. I try not to make them look gaudy!

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Ditto all the positives above. Love the soft light and the colors. I do wish you had been about four inches higher. Anyone know why?

with love, artie

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

I assume to get the blue band above the head?

Here is a very quick tweak. I stretched up as much as I could after the fact to move the blue band up a bit :w3

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Yuppers. God job.. I thought that it looked better.

with love, artie

[gail bisson]

The first repost looks best. Adding a bit more vibrance really helped.
Gail