From Cape May last weekend. Shot in dull, low light late in the day. C&C appreciated. I got a few frames of her, but this is the only one with her blue feathers showing. She had been feeding in the algae scum at the edge of the pond, resulting in the bathtub ring. The low light and fill flash made this look pretty flat in the camera, but some Levels and Sat adjustments, and a bit of black added to neutrals, helped it.
D7000, 700mm, ISO 200-, 1/800s @ f/6.3 manual. Fill @ -2.7EV.
Sounds like your processing brought this to life. Good find, and much interest between the "bathrub ring" and the pleasing background. The blue feathers showing is icing . Keep thinking that I might like a bit more profile to the head, but fine as is.
I could see the colours in the BG punched up a bit more, but I like the low angle, head angle, composition. The bit of blue in the wing is really neat to see.
Grace, I did get a frame that is almost pure profile, with just a slight head turn. I liked that one too, but it lacked the blue feathers and seemed just a bit static.
Daniel, I wasn't sure how far to push the BG saturation without making it look unnatural and overwhelming the duck. In this repost, just for fun, I've added about 30 points of saturation. Probably too much, but I'm curious to know what folks think.
Blue-winged Teal Hen
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