Wood duck portrait

I had a great couple of days on the lake this weekend and was able to get several good shots of wood ducks. This drake came by my blind pretty close and I was fortunate to be in some great morning light. I have been waiting a long time to capture a good portrait. I got frustrated with the soft focus I was getting with my 1.4TC, so I took it off and noticed a pretty big difference. Now I have mixed feelings about using it.

I cropped this as a 5x5, so curious as to the thoughts. Not much in PSE7 besides crop, sharpening, levels. Not sure if I should selectively lightening anything or not.

Canon 1D MK III
Canon 500mm f/4 @ f/4.5
ISO 500, 1/1250th
Manual, spot metering
7:30am, 28 degrees, sunny

Bryan, Beautiful capture! From the light, sharpness, angle and even the little water gurgling in front of the duck. Would like to see just a bit more room in front. Very nice!!

Colors look good to me, I wouldn't change them. I often crop to unconventional ratios, so 5X5 is fine with me.
You managed a very sharp eye on difficult bird, with weird floating pupils.

Of course, teles soften the image a lot, but are sometimes a necessary evil. Proper technique in using them, like securing the lens and plenty of shutter speed should help you there.

Lovely light, and you have exposed the colours very well in this.

The exposure and colours look good. There is just a touch of a warm spot on the white cheek line to tame, and a few more on the reflecting stripe on the flank. I'm OK with the crop too, although a bit of extra room wouldn't hurt either. I do wish for a better head angle as to my eye it seems ever so slightly turned away. Great job on the greens and purples on the head/face.

I like the portrait quite a bit. Regarding crop, I might prefer a 4x5 with added room on the top and bottom (if you have it in the original, that is.) The color is just right too. I have to ask, just out of curiosity, why do you say it's a 5:5 crop instead of saying 1:1 or square? Just wondering.