A little love for Mrs. Woody

A female wood duck landing in Cleveland, taken two years ago. Although not as flashy as the males, I have always enjoyed the subtle beauty of the hens.

D700 500mm f/4 with 1.4 TC f/6.3 1/2500s ISO 640 Gitzo/Wimberley sitting on ground

Post: CS5 The side lighting was strong enough to cast the birds right side of the head and wing root in deep shadows. I did two conversions, one for shadows and one for rest of bird, combined them as smart objects and painted in the lighter exposure for the areas I wanted to bring up. Selective sharpening, 20% crop, minor water clean up.

Advice and thoughts always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

Great incoming landing pose captured, Randy.

You did very well freeze the moment, wanting to spin a little the head,beautiful water color
GREETINGS

LOve the outstretched wings and tail. Light is nice. Good to see the ladies getting some air time.

Very nice indeed - good Photoshop skills - you have given me ideas!

Great exp and light...Love the pose. The head seems a bit soft to my eye, but sharpness looks good elsewhere. The water level on the left looks like it could use a CCW rotation, but looks even on the left. Not sure why but will be interesting to hear what others say!

Hey Randy, amazing pose, perfect exposure and gorgeous water colors. Comp is perfect for my taste. Very nice photoshoppery as well.
Agree that the head looks a tad soft, but I'd love to have one like this myself someday ...

Love the incoming flight pose here and the BG is outstanding. The first thing I noticed after that was that the head is a tad soft. Looks level to my eyes.

Thanks everyone for the input.

I do agree, the head isn't as sharp as the wings. I believe it is a combination of several things. The main culprit is the focus point was on the abdomen, and this worked well for the wings and the body, but the head is just a bit more anterior in this pose.

The head was also wet from feeding, which smooths it out a bit, and when sharpening the head, the wetness seemed to impair my sharpening ability.

The original version I was going to post had additional sharpening on the head, but it started to look a bit funky.

So, with all your valuable input, I will go back and revisit this a bit, see if I can reach a better compromise on sharpness.

Should have pushed the ISO up a bit for more flexibility on DOF!

Cheers

Randy

Fantastic landing pose and beautiful water. Wish the head was a little sharper. Thanks for the processing tips!

Randy, I really like these incoming approach poses with fully outspread wings, and a fanned tail. The colour of the water puts this up a notch, and I can see where Dumay is referring to regarding the water on the LHS. I dont really think you can do anything, as the rest of the water or rotation looks spot on. :w3 Cheers.

Fantastic details on the wings and body, only wish the head was sharper as noted by others and later explained by you. Colours look good, and the comp well balanced.

Nifty PS tip!

Randy am rolling on ground man. for me this is every aspect a perfect image bro.

Spectacular pose, underwing detail, and BKGR including the color. Is sharpest focus on the breast? A bit of extra sharpening of the head might be in order. Working with the master file, I will often run a contrast mask on the whole image on its own layer (15/65/0 or so), and then apply a hide all-mask and paint in the sharpening (B/D as described in Layer Masking for Dummies in Digital Basics) where I want it (but never on the BKGR or the whites). Thanks to Denise Ippolito for teaching me that trick.

super landing and great light, I also agree that the critical focus seems to be on the belly, sharpening the head might help. great image

Great incoming flight shot.