This wood duck is on the molt; we were peaceful together
Greetings, fine folks...I've been happily spending much time with wood ducks in various stages of molt...here's one from the other morning, in the early hours when the light gives the water its peaceful sweetness. You know just what I mean, those are the soft hours. And until the joggers come with their crude dogs, the moments (that seem like long easy hours) are soft and solitary and all is well in the brain and heart of a perpetually uneasy man of the waterways! This picture was taken with the Canon 7D and 70-300L at 300mm, 1/250, 5.6. What we're looking at accounts for 75% of the original. For the low-angle fetishists, please know that this was the best angle for bringing out the water colors and duck's reflection. Come to think of it, getting any lower would have been illegal and dangerous! But who cares about that? Please do bring me your feast of comments and suggestions and ideas and anecdotal tales of molting waterducks...autumn is here...
I'm not sure I have ever seen water like this and I do like the colors and the swirls very much - could be a great photo all by itself. Agree with your not so low angle being the best choice for the water and the reflection. Your bird looks a little dark to me, I think he may need to be lighter or brighter to stand out from the beautiful water.
Hello Jack, love that water patterns, especially on top! Nice duck and sharpness all around. I would have try to shoot this handsome guy at water or ground level to make a more intimate image, but that would have hurt the special patterns on water.
I love when the water looks like this. I have not sen a wood duck molting either... interesting. I agree about shooting lower but your angle really does show off the interesting water patterns. I feel a tighter crop could improve this image as well.
Thanks for the comments, folks. Agreed: this water is amazing. Laurie, you're quite right, I should have taken photographs of the water sans bird. It didn't occur to me, because my own brain was distracted from falling in love with the water! Oops! Well done!
Oh I really dig the water here texture-wise, and the higher vantage point has really brought it justice. Duck is sharp. I do think the image is rather blu though, so in PS I gave it some yellows and reds in "Colr Balance", then in "Selective Color" I added back some cyan to the yallow channel for the water as it became too yellow and added reds to the red channel for the duck's breast. Hope you like it.
Hi Jack, the interesting texture to water seems to out do the attention the duck should be getting. Thanks for sharing the moulting stage to this fellow, and you have achieved a good reflection too. Dan has put this up another notch.
Thanks, Robert. To me, this picture has two subjects: the duck and the water. Perhaps you're right, Stuart: they're fighting it out and the duck is losing. I agree wholeheartedly that Daniel's repost is excellent. I may try to work on the duck's colors and leave the water colors alone, if possible...