American Black Duck.

[Daniel Cadieux]

A species that is common enough here (but not nearly as much as Mallards!!), but strangely I had almost nothing to show as far as images go. This fella offered a nice fly-by as it took off for better feeding spot, flashing off its beautiful black-bordered blue speculum. It was rather cold that morning, note the ice on the bill:c3:

Canon 7DII + 100-400L II @321mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/3200s., f/5.6, ISO 800, cropped for comp, toned down the blue water BG (it was TOO blue!). There is one thing I should have done in post in retrospect...what do think that is?

[William Dickson]

That new lens is serving you well Dan....The blues in the speculum are amazing. Lovely flight pose, nice detail, the ice on the bill is a nice touch. Looking good here, so don't know what you should have done in post unless you are talking about the catchlights on the bill !

Will

[John Mack]

Nice view of this duck. Like the pose and that view of the near wing is great. Also the ice on the bill tops it off. Trailing water is another plus.

[gail bisson]

You have me stumped here. Maybe clone out the specular highlight in the water behind the duck and dodge the darker line where the highlight is? Clone out specular highlights on the bill?
Lovely view of the speculum. Nice wing position,
Gail

[Joseph Przybyla]

Lovely looking duck, Dan. Techs spot on as always. Love that the blue speculum shows. Thank you for sharing.

[Colin Driscoll]

Lovely wing position and got that blue wing perfectly. I am guessing at a touch of NR to BG and bird separately?

[Bill Dix]

Great takeoff pose, and wonderful look at the speculum and the ice on the bill is a nice touch. Not much more could be done to improve this. Maybe a touch of NR on the BG, maybe sharpen the water drops.

[dankearl]

I have looked again and again and I am picky with your work because you are so good,
but the one is not tack sharp to my eyes...

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey gang, thanks! Lot's of guesses, all good ones too. The thing that I should have done (IMO) is to remove some of the highlights on the bill, especially the larger ones near the base.