Drake Blue Winged Teal

[David Salem]

Took this a few months back at a local beach refuge. It was early and not much flying around yet when I saw this duck swimming with a nice reflection below him. As I swung the lens his way he did this stretched out pose. I wasnt sure what he was doing until I looked at it on my monitor at home and saw the insect in front of him.

1DMKIV---700mm---f5.6---ss1/2500---ISO640---HH@8:15am---30% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input, Appreciated

David

[Doug West]

Sweet shot David. That reflection is killer.

Doug

[thijs broekkamp]

Very nice shot with the clean and reflecting water! Only it seems that it misses some detail and has some noise.

[David Salem]

Thanks for the input. I added some sharpening to the duck. I always look at shots that look sharp on my monitor and forget to add some more sharpening for web presentation. See if this helps.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi David, even with the insect, you could invert this, as the refelection is as clear as the duck, not to mention that the insect has a great reflection too. To get the duck off the central horizontal placement, I would take some off the top. Im not sure what is going on with the BG, not your usual finish, but I do see noise/artifacts in the BG.

[Marina Scarr]

This is an amazing capture. Never knew the ducks chased insects. Like the pano presentation although could probably be tweaked a little. There is definitely an issue with your BG. Was this a large crop?

[Bill Dix]

What a fabulous pose, and the bee is a killer. The repost addressed one of my concerns; some NR on the BG would take care of the other. Great shot.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent action shot with the insect, David. I tend to like the second version.

[PhilCook]

Classic ...love the reflection and bug prey, very nice quality of light on this.....but yes to something funny with the backdrop

[jack williamson]

BG has been addressed, otherwise the repost looks sharper, the reflection and the shooting angle are right on. The bug is awesome.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the comments, appreciated.
Marina, no it's not a huge crop but I know what I did. I get home late in the evenings, then post a picture, then realized it needs more sharpening so I make a copy of a copy of copy which in turn pixelates some backgrounds. Need to be less lazy about that.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I love this image. The pose is great and that little fly is perfect with a perfect reflection. Did he get it?

[David Salem]

Thanks Cheryl, Ya he sucked it right up and never missed a beat.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Thanks Cheryl, Ya he sucked it right up and never missed a beat.

lol good boy!