Wigeon in spun gold

[Nancy Bell]

I photographed this Wigeon in the Chena River in Fairbanks, Alaska in September. The reflections from the golden trees were amazing and I sat on the shore just waiting for a wigeon to get into the right position. This is full frame and I am a bit conflicted about creating a pano crop or not. I really like the way the golds and blues appear in the upper part and did not want to lose that. Opinions?

Canon 1Dx, Canon 200-400 f 4 L IS w/internal 1.4, 1/1000, f6.3, exp. comp. +1/3, ISO 800.

[Sharon Hallowell]

Compositionally, I might consider a slight crop off the lhs and top, and definitely do a cw rotation. The water is beautiful and duck is nice and sharp. Sharon

[arash_hazeghi]

very cool Nancy, love the BG colors and reflections in the water! I only wish for a lower shooting angle.

[vishaljadhav]

Nice image Nancy, i will go with Sharons suggestion will enhance the feel of image a lot.
bird is nice and sharp and that reflection colours make it amazing

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful water, and nice light on the Wigeon. Good head turn as well. I think a pano, cropping from the top, would still keep enough of the lovely water. It definitely needs some rotation prior to cropping. Lower POV would have been great (if it didn't lose the bg colors) but that isn't always possible.

[David Salem]

I agree, great colors and techs, just wish for a lower shooting angle. I know it may not have been possible but nice frame either way.

[Norm Dulak]

Beautiful subject, colors in the bird and background, reflection and sharpness. I like the bird swimming on a diagonal and would not rotate. If it were mine, I might consider cropping a little off the left side. That would move the bird a little more off center, and provide proportionately more space for it to swim into. But this is gorgeous as is.

[Nancy Bell]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts! POV was dictated by the height of the grasses along the bank. Lower is always nicer, when it can happen. I'll try the crop suggestions.

[Randy Stout]

Nancy:

Nice to see you check in on my beat! Good thoughts from the folks already.

I would also level it, then crop to move the bird a bit more left. I would also crop some from top to give the impression of a lower shooting angle. With the bird at the bottom of the frame, it magnifies the effect of the elevated shooting angle.

Cheers

Randy

[mohammad reza shahab]

I like the BG colors and reflections.very nice light.

[dankearl]

I would have gone in tight for this, you get all the color and it minimizes the high shooting angle.
Nice photo..

.wigeon.jpg

[Shawn Zierman]

That is magic water! Gorgeous texture and colors in the water...I like the shooting angle too, as it enhances the water's great features. Compositionally, I prefer Dan's repost, particularly in regards to the duck being more level...which is even more critical when you have such a clearly defined reflection...things gotta line up. The sharpening is a bit too strong imo...matter of taste really...but isn't it all? :)

[Daniel Cadieux]

This image is all about the water and for that reason I much prefer the OP's subject size in the frame. I also think the higher vantage point was critical in getting the water effect here, especially those awesome wavelets at the top third of the frame, so it works very well in this case. Based on the OP, only some rotation and less sharpening on the subject's head were needed IMO.

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you all very much for you thoughtful comments. Different points of views expressed and it is helpful to see the different ways others see my image.