Barrow's Goldeneyes in flight

Hi all, It's been a while...this past weekend the weather cooperated and we have had some very low water levels in the Columbia River, which has allowed me to get a little closer and more importantly get the sun at my back to practice some flight photography. The Columbia River around Castlegar has a large winter population of Barrow's Goldeneyes which provided lots of practice, because unless they are really spooked, they tend to fly off in 1's 2's or 3's. Here is one of a pair shortly after liftoff...

Canon 50D, Canon 100-400 L IS, manual exposure at 1/640sec, f/8, ISO 400, pp in LR2.2 and PS CS4, sharpened using Photokit sharpener creative and output sharpening

Awesome image to be able to capture the two of them in good focus . Really like the opposite wing positions as well. If there would be anything I would do it would be to add a tad of canvas on the left as it appears a bit tight to me. Wonderful detail and a very lovely image Bruce. Many thanks for sharing.

Bruce as Judy said it's wonderful taht you managed to capture both at one. This image clearly shows the differences in colouring between the drake and the hen. I also like the fact that BG is fairly even. I might suggest some blurring to further draw the attention of the viewer to this pair of ducks.

Yep, agree with Judy Lynn above 100%. A lovely image. :)

Thanks very much for the comments and suggestions, Judy, Stephen and Akos...here is a repost. Adding canvas to the left made me want to make it a bit more pano. I agree that it was a bit tight in behind the male.

Cheers!
Bruce

The repost is an improvement in my opinion. I also like the oppose wing position. Nice details and colors. Well done. Thanks for sharing.

Excellent double of a species I havent seen before. I like the opposite wing positions, and the wonderful colours on them too. They also stand out nicely against the BG. Well captured Bruce.

Thanks Phil and Stuart!