Another Wood Duck

[Bill Dix]

Here's another frame from my encounter with this handsome drake a week or so ago. C&C always appreciated.

D7000, 700mm, ISO 1250, 1/500s @ f/7.1 manual.

[Karl Egressy]

Everything looks very good to me, Bill. The white in the beak is hot, but based on my own long experience with this species, it is always like this if the rest of the bird is good.

[Shawn Zierman]

Sweet, great lighting, color scheme, and classic pose. You achieved a lot of great color on the duck's plumage and that is always such a goal with this species. The background is looking a little too gaussian blurred like to me, though maybe it's natural bokeh and it just worked out this way...The area in the reflection by the top of head, and to a lesser extent, the top of the back, shows some digital noise? that looks quite different from the smoothness of the water around it...Overall, a lovely image of a lovely duck.

[John Robinson]

I agree with whats been said. hard to find serious problems with this pic. maybe a teeny teeny bit of CCW rotation? Could be my desk not level !!
JR

[Bill Dix]

Sweet, great lighting, color scheme, and classic pose. You achieved a lot of great color on the duck's plumage and that is always such a goal with this species. The background is looking a little too gaussian blurred like to me, though maybe it's natural bokeh and it just worked out this way...The area in the reflection by the top of head, and to a lesser extent, the top of the back, shows some digital noise? that looks quite different from the smoothness of the water around it...Overall, a lovely image of a lovely duck.

Thanks Shawn. Good eye. When I ran NR on the background, I masked out both the duck and his reflection, so there was no NR on the areas you mention. Now that I look carefully, I can see what you mean. I ran a very slight gaussian blur on the part of the bg that was above the shoreline (roughly a horizontal line at about the top of the duck's head). It was very minimal, to try and make it look like the reflection in the water immediately below that line. But I guess it's visible to the trained eye.

[Bill Dix]

I agree with whats been said. hard to find serious problems with this pic. maybe a teeny teeny bit of CCW rotation? Could be my desk not level !!
JR

Thanks Johnny. Check your desk. Judging from the catchlight in the duck's eye being exactly above the reflected catchlight, I think the rotation is OK. The ripple in the water is not quite horizontal.

[Graeme Cox]

WOW sweet duck Bill. Love the colours, great low angle, BG

[Holger Leyrer]

WOW was my first thought. pose,details and light look very good. Great low angle and exposure

[Arthur Morris]

I like the bird, the image, and the BKGR. The soft light is perfect for these guys.

When I drew a line from the center of the eye to the center of the eye in the reflection it actually indicated a need for a CW rotation. But as Johnny said it needs a bit of CCW so I drew a line parallel to the wake. Thus the re-post :).

[Bill Dix]

I like the bird, the image, and the BKGR. The soft light is perfect for these guys.

When I drew a line from the center of the eye to the center of the eye in the reflection it actually indicated a need for a CW rotation. But as Johnny said it needs a bit of CCW so I drew a line parallel to the wake. Thus the re-post :).

Thank you Artie. I guess I need to check MY desk. When I draw a line from catchlight to reflected catchlight, it is 0.2 degrees off vertical; pretty close, but yes, technically needed 0.2 degree CW. (Of course, that technique only works in still water.) The wake is not horizontal; if the bird were swimming at a 45 degree angle toward you, you certainly wouldn't suggest using the wake to level the image. So what we're talking about is perception, not reality. Art, not science. Given that in the OP the wake is slightly off horizontal, to the viewer the image might seem slightly akilter. And since what we strive for is more art than science, and not wanting my viewers to feel off-balance, I'll have to agree with you (as usual). Thanks for taking the time to look. comment, and adjust. And thank you Johnny for picking it up in the first place.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Bill! And YAW. When I look at the wake in front of the bird it looks as if I may have over-done the rotation a bit. But when I look at the bird in the re-post, the bird looks square to the world. Go figure.

[Jim Crosswell]

Beautiful image Bill! I like the light, fall colours, water colour and composition.