Another Long-tailed Duck, and a Cautionary Tale

Here's another from early March at Barnegat Light. I find it tough to catch these guys in flight. On this one, I wish his near wing were up. Some time back I posted the frame just prior to this, where he was banking: http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ing?highlight= . I would like to think that the next frame would have been the killer. But alas, there is no next frame.

I normally set my tripod with one leg pointing out toward my subject, but here I was up against the railing of the walkway so I put two legs parallel to the rail with the third one pointing back toward me. As I swiveled the rig to track this guy, I took a step to the right, kicking the leg and losing focus on the bird. Live and learn?? (or not).

D7000, 700mm, ISO 800, 1/2500s @ f/8 manual, gitzo and mongoose.

Hi Bill, good placement in the frame, and I like the angled flight pose flying up into the frame. The duck is nicely separated from the water BG, and agree, a better near wing position would have been first prize.

Sweet shot Bill.
Exposed very well, nice IQ, well composed, and I really like the dark water.
Very well done.

Very nice, Bill. I spent quite a while on the Jetty the last week in March and got several images of these guys, but no good in-flight ones.
I agree that having the near-wing up would have been great, but I would love to have this one in my portfolio.

I think your self critique was spot on, but still a nice flight photo and a nice angle coming out of the frame.

ummmm ?...I rather like the wing as it is, seems to work in properly with the slight banking pose. Nicely composed and stands out nicely against the water

I understand your concern about the near wing, but it does work well enough here. Good comp, colours. I feel an additional round of sharpening to the face would be good.

Superb flight pose with very nice wing position, Bill Sir.
Love the way the bird pops up against the nice backdrop.
Love the composition.

Regards,
Satish.

Super shot, I like the pose - looks good to me and the exposure is spot on, the background sets it off very nicely.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the comments, as always. Yes, Daniel, the face does look like a tad more USM would help the posted image. The jpeg looked fine on my screen prior to posting, to the point that I was afraid of oversharpening; but after posting it looks just a tiny bit soft.