A duck that walks on water.

[Tom Rambaut]

I think this is a Chestnut Teal - female. Took this on Saturday morning, quite late on Saturday morning. There are large flocks of this duck at this location - Sydney Olympic Park.

Hand Held - 7d, 500mm (pretty sure I took the extender off) 1/1600 @ 8.0, 400iso, EV -1. Added some canvas to the left of the bird.
Thanks Tom

[Ofer Levy]

Very nice action shot Tom! Would try to add some more canvas on the left. A lower shooting angle could have been even better IMO.

[Gary Esman]

Hi Tom, great job holding the focus on a moving subject, nice and sharp. Agree with Ofer on the suggestions. TFS

Gary.

[Arthur Morris]

With the light from the right the bird came in at a good angle for you. With that big wake I like the COMP as is. Love the SH and the light on the face. Which AF Area Selection Mode? It did a great job of getting the eye sharp.... I'd clean up the dark spots in the water that look like sensor dust. It is likely that they are shadows of some of the drops...

[Tom Rambaut]

This was not the target at the time - I was trying to get flight shots of Black Winged Stilts going from right to left. This duck came in at this angle fast and I just pressed and hoped for the best. I think this was the only frame with a full bird in it.There was not much time to think. It was late in the morning and the light/sun was getting harsh and at a side angle: I was about to go home. I had set the EV to -1 as my original target bird is half white and after a few histogram checks I knew this would allow me not to burn he whites.

I did three rounds of sharpening on this image as I reduced the image size -also selectivly sharpened the eye.

This was made using the settings as laid out in your 7d guide Arthur - Custom setting No.1 So, AI Servo AF & Auto-select 19 point AF with central sensor activated - I think!

Thanks for pointing out those spots. I had assumed they were just part of the wake. Shadows possibly as you say.