Wood Duck

[Gillie Bengough]

I knew that I would be unlikely to capture a fully focused bird leaving the water at around 40mph, handheld in a boat, so I went for movement using a shutter speed of 1/400s, f5.6 and ISO 1000. I increased the background blur when editing, as it was still a little distracting. I am fairly happy with the result, but would like to hear your comments and tips. Thank you, Gillie

[Diane Miller]

Under the circumstances, a great shot!

You might try cropping a little off the top to get rid of the darkest areas there, and try to lighten the darkest areas in the raw converter. That could give you a slightly softer contrast with a little more detail int he darks, but maybe you've pushed it as far as possible already. Don't know what you're using, but LR4 or PS CS6 are awesome in that regard, with the Shadows slider, and equally so to bring down too-bright lights with the Highlights slider.

[kim wormald]

Hi Gillie, handheld in a boat! The wood duck's colours look great, very different to our Aussie wood ducks. I like the water droplets too.

[Alison McCoy]

Amazing under the described circumstances Gillie. I like the blur you caught in the wings showing movement yet the head and body are pretty sharp. Nicely done.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Gillie,

I love what you are doing here, really unique and grabs my attention. Curious what kit are you using (Nikon/Canon) with that ISO could be Nikon?

This is really great and you can play with post processing options forever but I like it. Good comments above and you might apply more pop with mid-tones (curves , levels or selective color adding +2 gray and black).

You get an A+ for original work really like this one!!

[Gillie Bengough]

Thank you all for your comments and useful suggestions; I shall try them all out. Loving the A+ In answer to your questions I was using a Nikon D7000 and a 70 -300mmVR lens. I edit in ACR and PS CS6. Gillie

[Jeannean Ryman]

Very artistic looking shot! I think you made the best of a difficult shooting situation.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Gillie, all good comments above but I'm surprised that nobody mentioned anything about the bird flying away from you. There's certainly nothing wrong with blurred wings in a flight shot, but not seeing the bird's face is not optimal in any situation.