Sunset Duck

[Julie Kenward]

I'm jumping in with this image as my first post. Living in Kansas City, Missouri doesn't leave me with a huge variety of rare and exotic birds to photograph but it does give me the a nice variety of 'everyday" birds to choose from.

I have no idea what type of duck this is - I found it at a local lake. I've tried to identify it online but I'm not having much luck. Even my Missouri birding book was of no help. Anybody know what this is?

The image was taken at dusk with a Canon 40D and a Canon 70-200mm f/4L USM lens. I had to do some post processing in order to balance out the white of the feathers with the dark chocolate head and I did a small crop of the edges to better position the bird in the image.

ISO 200
f/4
1/400 sec.
natural light

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Julie Glad you decided to jump in and post !!!!!!

Can give you some suggestions Would like to see more room around the duck Feels very tight in frame On the bottom the legs are clipped (virtual legs) and you always want to include them !!!! You got a very nice pose with almost there head angle. We usually want the head with a slight turn to the camera

Also like the feather detail and exposure Might want to have the light coming of your back more This is from the right side.

........ regarding the quaker .... might be an aberrant plumage mallard :D:)

[Julie Kenward]

Thanks so much for the tips, Al. I would have liked to have had the sun behind me but the ducks refuse to go to that end of the lake! Perhaps I'll have to start going there in the a.m. instead of the p.m.

And the part about cutting off his legs...I NEVER would have thought of that! Thanks so much for the help.

[Harold Davis]

that's some great info from al! i love the light on this bird, julie. it's beautiful. glad you decided to start posting and i cant wait to see more from you.

[Alfred Forns]

Julie with the ducks food is a great motivator !!!! :):)

[Julie Kenward]

Yes, Al, I know about the food angle. :) Unfortunately, this lake has a huge "Keep our ducks wild - please don't feed them" sign. :(

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Julie,
Love the colors on your duck. You might want to give him more room on the frame so that you can offset his placement...:D