Wood Duck

[Steve Maxson]

This Wood Duck hen was photographed from a blind on a small woodland pond in northern Minnesota. The evening shadows were racing across the pond and the light on the bird was fading rapidly. 7D, 500 f/4 + 1.4X, 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 400. I selectively darkened and ran NR on the background. Comments are welcome and appreciated.

[John Chardine]

Steve- I would be very happy if this were my image! It looks like you have used some flash but I guess not. The perch, pose and head angle are great. The only thing I think you could do to marginally improve an already great image is to ever so slightly dodge (lighten) the eye and surrounds, and remove the OOF vertical item LL.

[Jeff Parker]

No nits from me. Great detail.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Love the composition Steve and the action you captured in this image. I might be tempted to remove the brown lines on the left of the wood duck but still very lovely as presented and I too would be happy if this were mine :)

[Fabs Forns]

Very nice capture, with lots of detail, love those feet :)
Another vote for evicting the LLC distraction.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Nice notes above.. cute looking girl this, i liked the details and HA here..

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments, folks. I debated about how much to clean up the background. Looks like the OOF stem in the LLC needs to go. :)

[Steve Canuel]

Nice shot Steve. I like the log perch and the turned in feet. This one where I don't mind a direct look from the subject, makes it seem she's just as interested in you as you are her.