Northern Pintail

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon 500/4 + 1.4x
f/7.1 1/1000sec, ISO 400


Nik Color Efex Pro, CS6, Noiseware Pro

[Henry Domke]

Wonderful pose. The splayed wing feathers activate the static bird.

The vent feathers are so bright that they are distracting. You might selectively darken them.
The colors are muted and look real but I think that slightly increasing the blue on the bill would make the image more appealing.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Henry. I darkened that bit up a little. I'm not sure about the blue on the bill -- did you mean increase or decrease? I was actually thinking it was a bit too blue.

[John Rowell]

Nice pose Ian and the light looked good. Agree that the bright area needs to be toned down. I think there is a lot more detail in the darker feathers that you could easily pull out. You may have captured focus on the bird's side instead of the eye which looks a touch soft to my eye.

[Bill Dix]

A beautiful preening pose of my favorite duck. For my taste it's a little large in the frame (I'd make the total length no more than 2/3 of the frame width, personally). And the image looks just a tad oversharpened (highlights showing a little jaggedness). An easy fix. The bill of the pintail does usually show some blue tint, so it looks ok to me.

[Henry Domke]

I'm not sure about the blue on the bill -- did you mean increase or decrease?

Increase.
Might be worth a try to see if you like it.