Wood Duck Drake

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Sigma 100-300mm f/4 @ 164mm HH
1/64 Fill with Canon 430EX on HSS and BB

1/1250 sec f/4 ISO 400

Nik Color Efex 4.0
CS6

[Marina Scarr]

I like the composition on this one, Ian, and the colors are lovely. I notice that your main focus is on the wing feathers rather than the head, as they appear sharper to my eyes. I am seeing quite a bit of noise in the BG. Did you have a chance to do any NR on this image, or did you do any work to the BG?

[Clyde Hopper]

Hi Ian , This photo (For me ) is one I would spend as much time with as need to make as perfect as possible . (I realize we should feel that way for every post ,But I think this photo is special ) I can only offer what I would do if it were mine .
I would select the water and mask the bird ,add some de-noise and even may-be some light blur also .Then reduce the exposure at the same time . then I would (Shift+Ctrl+Alt +E) and reverse the selection masking the water and add some contrast to the Woodie and may-be a touch of mid-tone brighting .
Of course It is not mine ,so take this with salt added ,BUT , It is a top shelf photo (IMO) .
If this is poor advise ,I would love to hear the alternatives.......So get to posting People ! lol

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Ian, good comments above; I agree about some aggressive NR on the background. The critical focus in the image seems to be well forward of the eye and that really detracts from the visual impact. You could have used more from your flash in this instance, as the dark plumage needs a little bit of a boost. Nice capture and pose, some PP tweaks will make the image stronger.

Cllyde, your keyboard shortcut is for "stamp visible", which creates a new layer from the existing visible layers. Is that what you meant, or do you mean Shift+Ctrl+I to invert the selection?

[Jeannean Ryman]

What a nice capture Ian! I agree with what the others have said as well. This image is certainly worth working on.

[Clyde Hopper]

Hi Ian , This photo (For me ) is one I would spend as much time with as need to make as perfect as possible . (I realize we should feel that way for every post ,But I think this photo is special ) I can only offer what I would do if it were mine .
I would select the water and mask the bird ,add some de-noise and even may-be some light blur also .Then reduce the exposure at the same time . then I would (Shift+Ctrl+Alt +E) and reverse the selection masking the water and add some contrast to the Woodie and may-be a touch of mid-tone brighting .
Of course It is not mine ,so take this with salt added ,BUT , It is a top shelf photo (IMO) .
If this is poor advise ,I would love to hear the alternatives.......So get to posting People ! lol

I use the (Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E ) so I don't have to flatten the image .I shouldn't have used the word [Reverse] . My choice of words may have caused the confusion .