Northern Pintail: Alone on Golden Pond

On my visit to a local marsh last week, most of the ducks (except for several fearless Gadwalls) stayed on the far side, despite my being hunkered down in my QuikCamo for the better part of 3 hours. An occasional Northern Pintail would venture part-way across the water, but still too far away for a decent shot, so I had to satisfy myself with some small-in-frame images. This was taken soon after the sun rose above the treeline behind me, and illuminated the reeds on the far side of the marsh. I did some Saturation and Vibrance adjustment, to achieve the feeling it gave me when the sun hit the reeds. Also cleaned a few bits of debris.

D7000, 500f4 + 1.4 TC, ISO 1250, 1/2500s @ f/6.3 manual.

Quite effective. I like the sense of movement from the blue water in the wake and I like where you have the duck placed in the frame.

Nice light.
I would place the duck a bit lower in the frame but as always comp is such a personal taste thing!
gail

Small in the frame is fine with me! nice duck in lovely light. We never get to see this golden colours here! I mine, I would turn this one into a panoramic image.

Hi Bill, love the light and colours in this, and the duck is nice and sharp. Maybe a bit off the top, but as Gail mentioned, just a personal thing. :w3

Love the motoring along just coming into frame composition. Like the blue reflected in the golden water. Just beautiful.




Geoffrey

A fine frame for sure! I love the yellows here, and the blue in the wake makes for nice complimentary colouring. I also like the faint vertical lines in the BG. There is a spot I would eliminate near the top edge, aligned directly above the duck...it is faint but for some reason my eye catches it.

Thank you all for your comments.

Juan Carlos, I thought about a pano, and I believe it would work as another option. I decided to leave it as a 3:2 comp to accentuate the smallness of the bird on the empty pond.

Daniel, I now see the spot you spotted. I'll evict it from the master file. Thanks.