Female Wood Duck Portrait.

75% of full frame.
The local Wood Duck flock is very tame, she had chicks on the ground below her that were 6 feet away from me.

1/2000, f7.1, iso800, 600mm, D800, HH

DSC_5515bp.jpg

I love the beautiful colours, the sharp detail and the pose. The background is smooth and nicely OOF, the only improvement for me would be to remove the dark background directly above the birds head and to the left of the image. A very pleasing image Dan.

The flock would definitely appear to be tame! IQ is obviously top notch. I love the yellow ring around the eye and the green sheen in the head feathers. I'd be tempted to clone the vertical thing on the beak. The dark spot doesn't bother me too much, perhaps lighten it a bit.

Details are superb, Dan. Dark spots don’t bother me as well—as suggested maybe lighten them a bit. Lucky you to get that close!

lovely portrait! excellent details & comp. really like the BG here.

Beautiful. Perfect dof. Visually complimentary and interesting background.

The background looks alot better viewed large than what it appears on the thumbnail. That is a particularly pleasing shade of blue you got there. Excellent deatils, good comp. I'd be tempted to darken the sheen on the bill (not get rid of it fully, just tamed a little). A lot of us would be in heaven to have such a tame flock of this species!

Beautiful portrait, great pose and colors.

Hi Dan, excellent detail on her head, sharp, and pops nicely from your two tone BG. You did get shots of the chicks didnt you. :w3

Excellent shot Dan!
Details are just superb.
Great comp, great lighting, and well composed.
Well done.

Sweet portrait Dan, beautiful detail and color, love the subtle green catching the light atop the head and the finely detailed mane behind. Backdrop color compliment it perfectly. I like the sheen on the feathers, but I feel it is a bit bright on that one band across the chest and top of bill...should be an easy fix in PS