Growing up

[joel quenneville]

Summer is winding down up here. I took a walk at a local marsh and the young wood ducks were changing into their adult plumage. I took this image from a boardwalk, lying on my stomach to get the lowest possible angle. I thought it made an interesting composition with all the green stuff floating on the water. I also liked the little bits of reflection that can be seen.

1/2000
f/5.6
ISO 400
Aperture Priority
Nikon D300
Sigma 100-300 @ 300mm

[Randy Stout]

Joel:

Interesting to see the colors coming in. The low angle works. Well exposed. It looks pretty sharp overall, but I might hit the eye only with one more round of USM.

If I were cropping this, might consider a 1/3 reduction in the foreground, and a smaller crop from the top.

Will be interesting if you are able to document as the color continues to come in.

Thanks for sharing.

Randy

[Harshad Barve]

lovely image with great colors , low angle and expo
agreed on another round of USM
TFS

[Art Peslak]

Interesting to see the colors of the juvenile. I would crop this tighter all around since I find the green stuff distracting from the subject. I also agree on the USM.

[Humberto Ramos]

I would give a round of USM in all head and neck, the focus point is in the wing near water. An f/8 and a lower angle and you would have all the bird in focus and a smoth BG...