Exit Stage Right...

[Jeff Dyck]

Here is an unplanned action shot. I had spied several Blue Winged Teals "strutting thier stuff" in a small pond in Oak Hammock Marsh and quietly crawled my way down to the waters edge to get a low perspective. While I was waiting for the ducks to move closer and over toward the "brighter" side of the pond, these two males started to squable. When I saw one was going to go, I didn't have time to bump the ISO and shutter speed and just held down the shutter, getting only one usable frame (the 5DII can only burst a little better than 3 fps).

Canon 5DII -- Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS -- f/6.3 @ 1/1600s -- ISO400 -- Manual Exposure

93674

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Jeff, Great timing, and glad you captured the Teal in the reeds part of the BG. I like the take off angle, and sharp where it counts. Although there is a lot of flying droplets on the RHS, I would maybe crop off at least half of that space and add a little to the left. Love the expression of the second Teal.

[Hendri Venter]

I actually like the wing blurr here. Tend to agree with Stu re crop.

[Norm Dulak]

A very interesting image, nicely captured. The head positions of the birds and the splash action really make this photo.

[gail bisson]

Hi Jeff,
I'm not loving this picture. I find the BG a bit bright and distracting. The flying duck is slightly soft and a bit too much wing blur for my taste. Agree about the crop suggestions.
I do like the action and the sitting ducks' upward gaze. The water splash is very nice and I like the dangling feet. Maybe a bit more contrast to separate the flying duck from the BG?
Gail

[Jim Fenton]

Interesting action.

I would try two things to improve this. I would brighten the swimming birds head to bring out more detail.

I would also try and burn in the highlights on the reeds in the BG and then blur them a bit more to take down the distraction they present.

[Bill Dix]

I like the action, and the expressions on both faces,and the water drops. Certainly a little more SS would have been nice had you been anticipating the action; I don't mind some wing blur in a case like this, but image might have been a little sharper overall with some SS. Jim's suggestion on the reeds sounds worth trying, but tricky with the water drops superimposed over the BG. Maybe crop a little off the right.