Wood Duck (f)

[Joseph Przybyla]

Most post on here are of the male Wood Duck, this is of the female. I think quite striking also. Image captured at Lake Mirror in Lakeland, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED, image captured at 400mm
1/1600 F/8 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 500 Auto 1 WB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2020 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped for composition and presentation

P.S. Learn more about Lake Mirror in the BAA Middle Florida Photography Site Guide that Artie and I co-authored. It is available on the Birds As Art Online Store.

[William Dickson]

Looking good Joe...I like the contrast throughout. Lovely detail on the bird, nice colours and HA. I would be happy with this one.

Will

[gail bisson]

Good, solid image.
I like the nice HA.
I would clone out the linear specular highlights in the water.
The sun sure comes up fast in Florida. What time was this taken.
I see what you were thinking when placing the duck in the top third of the frame but I would prefer a more pano look.
TFS,
Gail

[John Mack]

Nice view of this female. Like the ripples in the water. I could see the bird lower in the frame.

[Dorian Anderson]

Nice look at this lady, and I agree the bird could be lower in the frame. She also looks a bit crunchy, but I'm not sure from where that complication came. Also, why f/8 when you had f/5.6? You didn't need the extra DOF here.
Faster shutter is never gonna hurt!