Wood Duck at Sunset

[Joe Senzatimore]

Taken on the trip to Bosque last week. Theses are never easy to get close to , but this pond had ducks that were used to people feeding them and were very co-operative.

400ISO f5.6 at 1/500th

[Grace Scalzo]

Nice duck! Love the water and his calling pose. I think you could open your blacks up some on his back and clean up that large spot directly above him. I very much like your composition with the space around him.

[Dan Busby]

A good one Joe. Nice BG sets the bird off nicely and the open beak draws you in. Good techs but as Grace says, maybe you can pull a bit more detail out of the darks. I'm not sure about the comp for me - bird seems to close to the corner.

[Randy Stout]

Joe:

Always nice to find a cooperative wood duck, as they are generally pretty wary.

Good comments from Grace and Dan. I use flash a lot on wood ducks to try and get the varied colors to pop. You can get this effect with natural light, but very hard to get the entire duck to pop at once that way.

From a comp. standpoint, I would lean towards cropping down from the top and right.

I don't think of Bosque as a place for woodies, so fun to see an image of one from there.

Cheers

Randy

[Gen Benjamin]

Joe
Love the open beak. I think the comp is perfect, I like the room around him gives a sense of freedom.
Gen