Yellow-billed Duck in full flight.

[Stu Bowie]

Its best to try and capture the wings in the downward stroke, as it shows up the green speculum. Taken at my local pond a few weeks ago. The BG is a distant stone pitched wall.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300 F/2.8 +2X TC = 600mm
1/2500
F/6.3
ISO 800

Hand held

[christopher galeski]

very nice Stuart,great IQ,detail and sharpness superb,and the marbled BG and flight pose,make this image magic.well done.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Lovely shot against this unique BG Stuart! Beautiful feather patterns & focus! Well done buddy!

[Greg Oakley]

Awesome flight capture Stuart! Nice and sharp, great colours and superb IQ

[Ian Wilson]

Hi Stuart. Nice work. To pull this off with the 2x multiplier requires perfect technique, congratulations. Regards, Ian

[Jonathan Ashton]

Knock out Stu perfectly focused, being hypercritical the wing tip on the (second primary) left wing looks a little angular did you do some cleaning up around there??

[Andrew Robinson]

Very nice Stuart, a wonderful image.

Andrew

[Andy Shepherd]

One of the best flight shots I have seen of any species, Stuart. The individual feathers look amazing and that bright green Speculum really pops. Sweet BG too.

[Stu Bowie]

being hypercritical the wing tip on the (second primary) left wing looks a little angular did you do some cleaning up around there??

Thanks Jon. No clean up done anywhere.

Thanks to everyone else for your feedback.

[gail bisson]

Hi Stuart,
Love, love that forward full wing pose.
Tack sharp ( and with the 2X no less) and beautiful light. The mud droplets are a nice touch as well,
Gail

[Marina Scarr]

Killer shot, Stuart, and I love your BG b/c it's so unique.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Lovey flight pose and excellent IQ. Love that glowing speculum. Your pano-ish crop is perfect and I like where the duck is placed in the frame. I wish the head was turned a bit our way, but that's minor. Nice work Stu.

[Binu John]

Killer IF shot with perfect wing position! The IQ is terrific!

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent down wing position, Great image quality, and interesting background, Stuart.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the sharpness, wing position, details and composition. Nice image Stuart.

[David Salem]

Nice IF shot Stuart! I like the colors on this species and the detail in the feathers looks great. Getting the speculums lit is always a big plus. Real nice and unique BG to showcase this beauty. I agree that a bit better HA would have been nice but killer just the same. Well done

[Arthur Morris]

Stunning sharpness and detail on the near wing and the back. With the bird angling slightly away that left the head not as sharp as the rest. Can you post a screen capture that shows the original full frame image with the active focusing point in red?

Love the background but for the several overly bright sections and the whitewash (??) bottom left. All in all superb.

[Stu Bowie]

Can you post a screen capture that shows the original full frame image with the active focusing point in red?

Thanks Artie. I dont have any of the programs that show the focussing point, but in this, it was the central point. Looking at the frame, it was probably just touching the top of his back. Ive attached the original untouched - just reduced to 1200 wide.

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all so much for the kind words and feedback. Always appreciated.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for posting the original. It opens lots of cans of worms . There is no way that the central sensor alone was touching the bird's back; it was well above it. So how did the image come out so sharp??? I have lots of possible answers. R u sure that you were not using Surround? You should put DPP on your computer as it can Show Focus Points.

To see the focus points in DPP check “AF Point” under View or hit Alt L. Hit Alt M to see Highlight Alert. To learn how and why I use only DPP (Canon Digital Photo Professional) to convert my RAW files, see the info on our DPP RAW Conversion Guide here.

[Arthur Morris]

ps: I love that wall and I love the green. Thus, I'd have gone with a wider crop....