Wood Duck in Motion

[Melissa Groo]

Canon 1D4
500mm
Gitzo 3530LS/Wimberley

ISO 640
f/5.0
1/1250 sec

I was looking over some pictures from my time with the Wood Ducks about a year and a half ago, in Ohio on a Matthew Studebaker workshop. I decided to process this one for the first time. I had previously discounted it as I thought the wings being a little blurred made it a pass, but now I am beginning to like a little wing blur in some action shots to convey the idea of motion. Wondering what others think.
Now that I know a bit more about photography (mostly due to this forum), I think I should have traded some ISO or opened aperture fully to buy a little more shutter speed.
Crop, sharpen, some lightening of a couple darker patches in the background.
Thanks very much in advance for all comments and critiques.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Thais one colorful frame Melissa, great pose and angle. lovedd it..

[vishaljadhav]

Lovely colors, the eye is fantastic
Love it

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Great shooting angle, lovely colors, very nice composition, like it a lot!

[PaulAnderson]

Nice shot! I don't mind the wing blur to much the action is great and love the colors and the little water drops. The only thing I wish, and this is just my opinion and its picky but I wish it was a vertical shot. But great job.

[Doug Brown]

Gorgeous light and color. I think your self-assessment is spot on. A bit more shutter speed would likely have frozen the wings, leaving only the wingtips blurred. Blurred wingtips would have conveyed that same sense of motion while leaving the majority of the wings sharp.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot Melissa, I go along with your self critique but I doubt if you would have actually seen a great deal more in the wing due to restricted DOF at f5, I do like the image as presented and find the wings perfectly acceptable.

[gail bisson]

I love the color palette in this one.
Nice low POV and love the perfect body angle towards the viewer.
Head is tack sharp so I am OK with the wing blur.
Gail

[Bill Dix]

The pose, light and colored bg are all superb. Wing blur works for me, but in a perfect world I guess you and Doug are right, that a little more SS would have been better with just blurred wingtips. In any case, this is a fine addition to your remarkable Wood Duck portfolio.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I loved every image you posted from this trip and this one is great too. The motion blur does not bother me at all and I love the water drops at the face. Great low angle and bg too

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Melissa,

Your self assessment is spot on, as Doug explained. I've found (from very limited experience), that 1/2500" is a good starting point for ducks in flight. Not sure how that translates to flapping wings when not in flight though :) With that said, you got the head perfectly sharp, so no complaints here!

Colors, detail, low perspective, dynamic pose, ... all wonderful.

Miguel

[dankearl]

While I agree it is not perfect, A very nice Wood Duck flap.
The colors and low angle make it work.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the low angle, colours, sharpness, blurred wings and composition. Excellent image Melissa!

[Sidharth Kodikal]

A riot of colors and an amazing pose. You couldn't ask for a better BG and I love how the fg merges seamlessly into it.
Love the flying droplets. Nicely done, Melissa.

[Frank Schauf]

Fantastic. Wonderful pose, colors and background.

[christopher galeski]

very nice image,colorful,low angle,like the bg,great pose.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Melissa, love the low perspective, together with the angled pose of the duck. Overall well exposed on all the colours, tack sharp where it counts, and the flying droplets add a lot.

I remember your previous images from this location.

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image.Great pose,beautiful colors,low angle and superb composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice dynamic pose and beuty background, Melissa. Love the flying particles.

[Jeroen Stel]

Stunning details and light in this one Melissa!
Well done capturing the action!

greetings,

Jeroen Stel

[Ivan Ellison]

A gorgeous shot, the head is super and sharp, the slight blur in the wings adds to it and gives it life. I would be very pleased if it were mine

[Tim King]

Just the right amount of wing-blur to give it some action. The duck is sitting nice and high on the water with a perfect BG. To me the head looks a little too highlighted. Maybe a combination of head angle, sun and iridescence.

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks so much, everyone!

[David Salem]

Chiming in a bit late but wanted to tell you that you did a great job capturing this Drake in action. I like the blur and the head colors look great. Well done

[Shawn Zierman]

I think this is Studebaker good...which is one of the highest forms of compliment an avian image can be given imo.

[Melissa Groo]

I think this is Studebaker good...which is one of the highest forms of compliment an avian image can be given imo.

I sure consider that the highest praise indeed, Shawn. Thank you. And thanks David.