Theme; Wood Duck.

It fits the theme, especially the Duck.
Thanks for looking and comments.

Canon 5D Mark III
Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6 L IS II. @ 200
ISO 800
f5.6
1/2500 s

Karl your duck images are great trade some blue herons with you

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Originally Posted by stuart wanuck

Karl your duck images are great trade some blue herons with you

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Thanks Stuart. Only if it comes with a big fish carried in the beak.:S3:

Very nice Karl. Beautiful details on the bird, love the feather colours on the wings. Nice flight pose, and I like the dropped feet.

Will

These keep getting better and better. I'm catching the next bus to Ontario.

While this is surely a striking image, overlooking a major flaw does not really help anyone: the shadow on the near underwing is distracting. Ideally the wing would have been fully raised and thus perfectly lit. Desaturating the face a bit would make the image look that much sharper. Respectfully, a

This is excellent Karl.
I think the iridescence you have brought out in this light is amazing. I am particularly drawn to the iridescence in the wing tips and secondaries on the far wing.
Personally, the shadow on the near wing doesn't bother me and I did not notice it until I read Artie's comment.
I like the feet.
My only personal preference would be a bit more room below and in front,
Gail
Artie- a question for you. Why would desaturating the image make the image sharper? I don't understand.
And finally to Karl- did you saturate the head?

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Originally Posted by Arthur Morris

While this is surely a striking image, overlooking a major flaw does not really help anyone: the shadow on the near underwing is distracting. Ideally the wing would have been fully raised and thus perfectly lit. Desaturating the face a bit would make the image look that much sharper. Respectfully, a

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Thanks Artie, thank you all. I brightened up part of the close wing. I tried the desaturation but it did not work for me.
Here it is:

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Originally Posted by gail bisson

This is excellent Karl.
I think the iridescence you have brought out in this light is amazing. I am particularly drawn to the iridescence in the wing tips and secondaries on the far wing.
Personally, the shadow on the near wing doesn't bother me and I did not notice it until I read Artie's comment.
I like the feet.
My only personal preference would be a bit more room below and in front,
Gail
Artie- a question for you. Why would desaturating the image make the image sharper? I don't understand.
And finally to Karl- did you saturate the head?

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Thank you Gail.
I used a small amount of saturation (+4) on the overall image as it is part of my standard PP. process when I call up the adjustment layers stuck above each other.

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Originally Posted by gail bisson

Artie- a question for you. Why would desaturating the image make the image sharper? I don't understand.
And finally to Karl- did you saturate the head?
Gail

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Funny that you should ask specifically about the head.... I doubt that Karl specifically over-saturated the head (or the whole image) though the head in particular does look a bit over-saturated to me. Folks need to realize that in sweet light many images of birds with rich colors, especially but not limited to REDs, will be over-saturated right out of the camera. I have often heard folks defend over-saturation by saying, "I did not add any saturation!" (so how can it be over-saturated...) That's simply the way things are.

Now to answer your question: "Why would desaturating the image make the image sharper?"

When a detailed area of an image, in this case the drake's head and face, are over-saturated some detail is lost. You can see that easily by taking an image of a cardinal made in sweet light and adding or subtracting CYAN to the REDs in Selective Color.... So here, lowering the saturation a bit (or adding 40-70 points of CYAN to the REDs in Selective Color) would result in the image appearing to be sharper. a

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Originally Posted by Karl Egressy

Thanks Artie, thank you all. I brightened up part of the close wing. I tried the desaturation but it did not work for me.
Here it is:

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Good job on the shadow but I would still have loved this great image more with the near wing in the full-up position. And I am pretty sure that you would have too. See my comments to Gail on adding some CYAN to the REDs in Selective Color....

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Originally Posted by Karl Egressy

Thank you Gail.
I used a small amount of saturation (+4) on the overall image as it is part of my standard PP. process when I call up the adjustment layers stuck above each other.

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Hi Karl, I would never add any saturation to a drake Wood Duck image made in sweet light. Having a good basic workflow is important but it is important that you consider making changes to your workflow based on a given subject photographed in a given light. a

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Originally Posted by Arthur Morris

Hi Karl, I would never add any saturation to a drake Wood Duck image made in sweet light. Having a good basic workflow is important but it is important that you consider making changes to your workflow based on a given subject photographed in a given light. a

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Thank you Artie, good advice. I'll keep them in mind in the future.

Excellent image Karl! I like the wing position, sharpness, BG and repost looks good.

Fantastic frame Karl. Love the different pose and the great exposure and details. Colors and processing look good to me. You need to come out to SoCal sometime. You will do very well! Nice work.

A beauty for sure here Karl, and i prefer the first image without the lightened wing shadow area, IMO it doesn't look "real!" Excellent thread and sound advice throughout. I really enjoy learning from an image rather than the usual complimentary flairs. Thanks all... Happy New Year