Pintail on Ice

Another image of the handsome male pintail that I was fortunate to see at the local bird sanctuary two days ago. He settled in for a bit of a rest and gave me several opportunities.

D4 600VR f/5.0 1/1000s ISO 1250 Manual exp Gitzo/wimberley SB900 with beamer

Post: Cleaned up the ice a bit, selective sharpening. White neutralizer to help with dull light

I liked the play of his blue bill against the blue ice. As mentioned, flash was used here, but it had not completely recycled, so the effect is very subtle. Faint catchlight and a sliver of fill from ice.

Wish I had a bit more DOF. Because he was moving around a lot, and other birds were flying in, I didn't want to go slower on SS.

Advice and comments appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

What a beautiful, and rather unique, image of this handsome bird. Perfect pose, gorgeous smooth bg, nice lighting with subtle flash.

Nice flash use on another nice PinTail.
The duck may be sitting level, but the impression is, it is not.
I might try some rotation to see how it looks.

Dan:

He is angled towards me slightly, and I think that is giving the impression it needs rotation. I did stare at it for a while before I posted it. The ice doesn't give any absolute reference points unfort.

Cheers

Randy

Love the bird, the light, heck, everything about this one. I see no need for more d-o-f. In fact, I'l drink to this one--on the rocks.

Randy Sir:
Classic image.
Love the wonderful colors and details.I too liked the play of blue bill against the blue ice.

Regards,
Satish.

I'm beginning to feel very sorry for the ducks in your neighborhood....all that water an no access lol

Lovely detail and great exposure considering all that white ...snow and ice is something I'm not likely to encounter here, but I can appreciate that is must take a lot of practice to get exposures right under such bright conditions

Hi Randy, with the surrounding ice, subtle flash and your own exposure in camera, you pretty much brought out every finer detail on this fellow - great work. Love the hint of the purple sheen mixed in the browns of the head, and that blue bill rocks. I feel you have the overall sharpness sorted too. Rotation looks fine from here.

another stunner!

great shot, very nice details.

Excellent on all the fronts, Randy. what a great opportunity. loved the ice, the details and the simplicity.

THANKS everyone for the comments. I appreciate our input. So a lovely duck, I feel so fortunate to have had this brief encounter.

Cheers

Randy