Common Merganser, female

[Tim King]

Took this a couple weeks back when the sun was barely touching the horizon on its way down.
There were 15 females hanging around where the creek flows into the pond.
They were coming up with tiny fish and would swallow them down before fully surfacing.

50d - 300mm f4 L IS + 1.4TCii - rocks and dirt as tripod (cheapest I can find)
ISO 400 - f7.1 - 1/500
Lying on the bank fully camouflaged.

Spring!!

[gail bisson]

Looks like she has a mouthful!
Beautiful light and great POV. Good DOF as well
I might take a bit off the bottom and rotate CW a tiny little bit.
Nice shot,
Gail

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely duck and it goes so well with that gorgeous water. You have a good low angle here, and a nice position on the duck. Agree on a slight rotation. Would like to see the head sharpened a bit more.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Tim. Sweet light! I like the low shooting angle and the bird gave you a nice pose. Like Gail, I would suggest cropping some off the bottom - and adding a corresponding amount to the top. IMO, the reflection isn't strong enough to warrant keeping all of it. I would agree with a slight CW rotation. This is a very nice image and a couple minor tweaks will make it even better!

[Grace Scalzo]

Agree with the above critiques, but what a lovely subject in lovely light. Pleasing image to view.

[Nick Palmieri]

Nice light. I like the look on his face. Good low angle.

[Diane Miller]

Lovely light and sharp image! I wouldn't cut off any of the reflection -- it is subtle but very nice. I wouldn't add any to the top -- nothing is happening up there. I would even trim a little more up there.

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful and colorful image.

[Mike Delgado]

Sweet light and wonderfull golden colors, I would like a little more room on the top. Just my opinion.

[Michael Eckstein]

Very nice capture. Agree with crop suggestion. Beautiful light and a beuatiful image.

[Tim King]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions but I think I'll keep it as is. The duck is swimming towards my 5 o'clock so the unwritten rules suggest I leave space in the direction it is heading. Thanks again for your input.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Beautiful attentive pose and love the colors. I like the bird placement and the shooting angle. The red channel is slightly clipped (darned sRGB :)
Fine work!

[Diane Miller]

Tim, the amount of space you have left and right is a perfect balance, for my tastes, to leave room for it to swim into without having too much negative space there.