Ring-necked Duck

[Steve Maxson]

I've been hanging out over on the Macro Forum for a while working on those skills, but thought I would start posting some bird photos again. :) This drake ring-necked duck was photographed last spring from a blind on a small woodland pond. 40D, 500mm f/4 + 1.4X, 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 400. Full frame. I selected the eye, darkened the pupil, and removed a second catchlight. Comments are welcome.

[Danny J Brown]

You picked a good one to start out with, Steve! Everything looks perfect to me, especially the color control on this beauty. Comp is just right as well for my taste - not too tight or loose. Funny, I was just reading Artie's inset in "Photoshop CS4 for Nature Photographers" on how to darken the pupil and make the eye pop!! The eye is what makes divers so beautiful. Great shot.

[Doug Brown]

Great light helped you catch the whites and blacks nicely. I like the visible ring on the neck (never did understand why they didn't name these guys Ring-Billed Ducks). The head is angled ever so slightly away from the viewer; I'd prefer it looking slightly towards us. Good to see you posting on Avian again!

[Ilija Dukovski]

Great colors and excellent bird. The eye is really done nicely. It feels as if it needs a bit of CW rotation. Might be because of the water pattern though.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

What a gorgeous duck! Congrats and while Doug mentions HA a bit off, it's still a ripper. There is a strange spot a bit below the bill on the right edge where it looks like some cloning took place? Could be wrong, but it looks a little odd. Congrats on a stunner! :)

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments guys. In terms of the head angle (and I hope this doesn't sound defensive :) ), my take is that the head is actually turned very slightly toward the viewer - I say this looking at the V-notch at the top of the bill where it joins the head. I can see the far side of the V indicating the slight turn towards me. If the head was turned away, that side of the V would be hidden, right? :)
Ilija: I wasn't sure about the rotation as I didn't have any vertical or horizontal reference points in the image - you may be right.
Akos: I see what you mean about the funky area on the right side. The RAW file had some short vertical streaks in the water that I thought were distracting so I removed them with the Patch Tool. Looks like I need to rework that area.

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image! Great detail and nice and sharp.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the angle, eye contact and sharpness and agree with Steve about the head angle. Does it need a tad CW rotation? I might desaturate the blues a few points.

[Harshad Barve]

Beautiful species and image , lovely expo and sharness here
TFS

[Stu Bowie]

Excellent exposure, and this is really sharp. I agree this needs a slight CW rotation.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Beautiful image, nice HA, details, comp and angle.. congrats..

[Clement Francis]

The light and exposure here is heavenly

[Ofer Levy]

An impressive shot indeed!!! Great light and spot on techs.

[Brian Sartor]

Excellent details showing in the blacks. Love the light and colors with the plumb color showing in the blacks and seeing the ring on the neck. Head angle and eye contact look good to me. Beautiful image!