One more Ruddy Duck

[Lyle Gruby]

Shot this guy right after dawn as it dove and meandered around me. Shot lying on rocky bank underneath camo netting. Shot from homemade skimmer pod, Wimberley Head. All C&C appreciated.

Techs:
D7000
200-400 f/5.6
1/2000
ISO 500

[gail bisson]

The low POV and the light are wonderful.
Love the colors in this image.
The duck seems a bit soft to my eye and I would sharpen more.
Is the little bit of orange in the water the foot?
Gail

[Karl Egressy]

Great super low angle shot, Lyle.

[Shawn Zierman]

Light quality...excellent! but the colors look a little oversaturated to me.
Low angle....excellent again.
Sharpness...pretty good, but the duck could use a little refinement in the sharpness dept., focus is definitely there...
Composition...consider toning down the bg element behind the duck hugging the left edge of the frame, also consider eliminating
the reflected highlight of the water bead directly under the duck.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Lyle, love the low perspective, and the spot on pose parallel to your camera. I do like the droplets on the duck, and I would smoothen out the lines in the upper BG. A touch of selective sharpening wont harm the little guy.

[Bill Dix]

Looks like you were under water. Great POV, nice bg color (although maybe a little too much of it?) Yes to a tad more sharpening on the duck.

[Randy Stout]

Lyle:

Another pretty one. Good comments above. Similar concerns to your previous post. Consider smoothing the BG, bit more sharpening on the bird, yes, I would remove the red reflections in the water and tone down the drop on the back because it is so bright.

Color palette is really nice.

Cheers

Randy

[Robert Holguin]

Very nice shot.
The low shooting angle is terrific, very nice light, wonderful background, and great comp.
A tad more sharpening would be great.
Well done.

[Lyle Gruby]

Thanks for the feedback, glad everyone liked the POV--I definitely paid a price for it with some bruises from lying on those rocks for a few hours. I'll have to figure out a better sharpening practice for web presentation. The colors havent been manipulated at all, color-wise this is a straight out of camera RAW file. I left the orange water droplets in because I loved the color reflecting from the sun, but I can see how everyone found them distracting. I'll keep working on it. Really appreciate all the constructive feedback.