Bathing

[wendell westfall]

D90 70-200VR+2X@190 1/1000 f5.6 ISO400 0EV handheld

A couple weeks ago I watched this female mallard dip her head in the water again and again, and finally standing with wide-spread and rapidly moving wings (a familiar pose -- but that image was very blurry). I liked this image because of the water drops at her beak and the bright white water flowing over her back. Cropped and adjusted in LR4.

Wendell

[Karl Egressy]

Nice action shot, Wendell, love the water pattern and colour. The duck looks nice as well.

[Randy Stout]

Wendell:
Good timing to have the water spilling off the back. I am quite fond of mallard hens, for their subtle beauty, and have been taking more images of them than the drakes recently.

The ripples are nice, but I could see some modest cropping from the top to reduce the apparent steepness of your shooting angle. Would have to compare the two versions to judge if it was enough improvement to be worth while, but I would consider trying it!

Cheers

Randy

[wendell westfall]

Randy, thanks . . . implementing your suggestion improved my image.

[PhilCook]

Really like the channel of water on the back Wendell, as well as water motion around the duck, the feather patterns have come up lovely, very distinct. I think maybe i'd be inclined to crop off the top to that first darker band of water

[Diane Miller]

I agree with cropping off the top -- come down halfway from the top edge to her head and the lovely detail on her will be much more predominant in the image.