Wood Duck

[Paul Kusmin]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2739/4452973786_8ea6167e69_o.jpg

Went out Friday morning to concentrate on these beautiful birds, light was pretty good and the lake was quiet.
Would have liked to have gotten a bit more of a head turn towards me and the whites were blown but nonetheless i'm still pretty happy with it.

D300 + 500mm f4 AFS-I + 1.4x tele + Gitzo 3530 + Jobu BWG-P head.

Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/800
ISO: 250

Thanks, C&C welcome.

[Fabs Forns]

Great pose and open bill with beat BG. I may try and pull the reds back a tad, love the iridescence you captured.
TFS.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Very nice image, although a bit tight. If you have to, sacrificing the whites is certainly the way to go. What is the alternative; underexpose the rest of the bird with little chance of bringing the exposure up post-processing without creating serious noise problems? Did you use Adobe Camera Raw? If so, using the recovery and exposure sliders can often, in my experience, save the whites. Good job. regards~Bill

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely pose with the open bill. I might crop a little from below and add above to lower the duck in the frame a little. Iridescence is great.

[Stu Bowie]

Exposure looks good, and the the open bill adds to the image. I agree with Tony, taking off the bottom will work.