Wood Duck

[Dave Leroy]

This was taken a few days ago. I was up on a berm in a wooded area and looking down on the duck through the trees and under growth. I debated on removing some of the water debris/marks and decided they were part of the woodsy look. 50D, 500mm f/4 at f/5.6, 1/180, EC -1/2 and ISO400. I added a bit on left and cropped from right. Dave

Oops. here's the photo!

[Ryan Schain]

Very cool behavior to capture. The exposure and colors look great. I think its a bit oversharpened, and for ISO 400, the feathers look rather noisy (I think that has something to do with your sharpening).

[Alfred Forns]

Agree on the sharpening !! I like the pose and look ! Would like to see a little more detail on the whites but these ducks are tough and need about perfect light.

... curious Do you have your camera set up in 1/2 increments? Might be better to go in thirds !!!

[Dave Leroy]

Thanks Axel; I am not sure why that happened. I tried twice and thought I got it the second time.
I did not change anything about the sharpening that i normally do, and I guess with less than ideal light I need to back off a bit. Thanks.
And I will check that Alfred because I do think I have EC in 1/2 increments.
Dave

[Stu Bowie]

Good eye contact and the stretched shows the colours nicely. Another vote for backing off with the sharpening in this. ( I never use the same settings for sharpening - every image needs less or more and I tweak to suit. Im sure you knew that anyway Dave. ;) )

[Dave Leroy]

Thanks Stuart. Actually I had not thought of that. I did reprocess and the photo looks much better. Dave