Leave it to the girl to stick the landing!

Having shown some crashing Mallard drakes recently, it only seems fair to give credit to the little ladies who seem to be more graceful when it comes to landing!

This morning, fairly dim. Forced myself to leave the big rig at home, so I could practice hand held BIF. Well, I almost got BIF with this one, more like post BIF :S3:

D4 500mm AFS f/5.0 1/2500 ISO 1000 manual exposure, hand held

Post: Modest crop from top and sides for comp. Selective sharpening. Cleaned up a bit of rough snow. Detail extractor on speculum.

Crop is a bit squarish, but felt it worked with this pose.

Advice and comments appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

Hey Randy. Nice catching up with you this afternoon! Glad to see you opting for hand held BIF on occasion! Nicely exposed with good eye contact. Wings are forward enough to see some blue in the wing. I especially like the snow kicked up by the duck as it's landing. The square crop works well. I might sharpen the head just a little more.

Thanks Doug:

I accidentally posted one not sharpened for the web. I had to back off the sharping of the raw file, it was too sharp, and somehow in the process posted the final version with no sharpening for the web. The version below is what I planned to post.

Thanks for catching that.

Cheers

Randy

Very nice clean image. Re-post is perfect. I like the high key environment and I think the crop works well.

I was impressed with the first but on seeing the second I am more than impressed, a truly excellent shot, the detail is remarkable and the colours are superb.

Repost rocks! Glad to see you give "the Girls their 'due'..." (after all, we CAN be quite graceful)... I like the wing position, the high key and the balance here....Pretty face is superb..."Square crop" works well. Thanks, Randy!

Nice, as you put it graceful landing pose, Randy. Great details, colours and sharpness in the repost.

Snow/ice certainly makes for a nicely contrasting backdrop, the duck stands out very nicely, love those fully extended wing feathers. The squarish crop works well, but I wonder if it could also look good with a slight crop off the bottom and canvas extension on the left

Hi Randy - great pose and pov with excellent detail and sharpness (in the rp). There's some blue cast in the snow but that may be intentional on your part.

TFS,
Rachel

Rachel: Yes to intentionally leaving a blue cast in the snow, to emphasize the cold feel.

Phil: I do think your crop suggestion would work. I wanted to work the strong diagonal of the wing tips and body line, hence the crop chosen.

Thanks everyone for the input!

Cheers

Randy

Nice wing position and pose, sharp and the sun angle worked well in your favor to light up the back of the wing. Very nice.

Gary.

Excellent image Randy! I like the IQ, details, snow, exposure and wing position.

She's looking pretty darn good! Excellent pose, exposure, details. Snow naturally has a bluish cast in the shadows on sunny days that is difficult to portray correctly on "film"...I think it looks just right.

Great details Randy. I like how the snow helps fully illuminate the duck. One of the benefits of winter we get up north :)

After having just experienced snow and realllllly cold weather, I have to agree that the blue cast in the snow works! I absolutely love this pose, Randy, esp against that snowy BG. Love the colors and the movement.

Nothing to add to the above, Randy, except that it's a winner. Fun shot to view and very well executed. Love the kicked up snow.

Randy Sir:
Excellent landing pose captured.I like the forward wing position,beautiful colors and great IQ.
Love the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

Agree the repost is perfect. Great shot, love the curved primaries.

Terrific shot.
Excellet nwing position, excellent timing, exposed very well, and great feather detail.
Repost looks great.
Well done.

very cool, have not seen one on snow. dynamic pose and sharp details. I would also warm the bluish tones a tad.

How heavy is the 500 AF-S? I had the 500VR for a while, it was excellent and a bit lighter than the old Canon 500 IS. would make a perfect HH lens.

Hi Randy, love the rounded breast and wing position in this, and the flying snow at her feet adds interest. Interesting debate regarding exposure/'colour cast on snow. Your repost rocks. Well captured.

Beautiful image Randy,sharp,good exposure,nice light.well done.

Good looking pose, and getting her in the snow makes for an interesting image.

Thanks everyone for your input.

Much appreciated.

Arash- The AFS version of the 500 is slightly heavier than the VR versions, but not a deal breaker using it for BIF. I am toying wit the idea of a 300 2.8 for some of the close in birds at the local bird sanctuary, where the really fast AF would be a plus.

Cheers

Randy