Happy mandarin

[Mike Poole]

These little ducks are normally quite skittish, but this one was sat perched on a metal pole as I walked past, so I decided to see how close he'd let me get. Bizarrely, he ended up letting me sit closer than my lens would focus, and happily sat for an extended portrait session, not leaving until after I'd walked off.

As the perch was an unnatural red pole I fancied a shot cropped much closer than I'd normally go for, especially when he gave out a couple of shouts

Canon 5d3
500mm f4is + 1.4x ii, hand held
ISO 1600
1/400th, f5.6
small crop for comp

[gail bisson]

You are right Mike, he does look happy!
Nice pose, excellent IQ with nice details in the feathers. Nice and sharp considering you were hh the lens.
I wish the OOF tail feathers were not there but certainly not a deal breaker.
Gail

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Excellent detail of a beautiful bird, Mike - well done!

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent portrait with wonderful colors.

Regards,
Satish.

[William Dickson]

Lovely image Mike. Great expression on the birds face, and lovely colours. I have never seen one of these ducks up my way. Great capture. Well done

[Ian Wilson]

Good work Mike but would have been even better at f/10. The tight crop works very well for me. Cheers, Ian

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot gorgeous colours, I think I would have done as you did under the circumstances but if you look very critically I think you will see DOF is a little lacking - I am being very critical here! I suspect if you had not gone to min focus it would have been even better.

[David Cowling]

Great shot. He seems to be speaking to you. Lovely feather detail and the colours are gorgeous. I had a report that there were a few on a pond near me but they had gone when I arrived. I think that they must be our most colourful ducks in UK.

[keith mitchell]

Mike you have some excellent pin sharp detail and the colours a superb, great piece of work.

Keith.

[Daniel Cadieux]

More dof would have been great for the breast, but the details on the face and flanks are so good. Great colours too. I love the open bill, makes the duck look indeed very happy! I could see a version with a bit more room top and left, but looks good as is too.

[arash_hazeghi]

love the pose and close up details, nice colors too! you did very well. If you had time, I would take off the TC to get the chest sharp too

[Mike Poole]

Thanks for all the comments everyone, much appreciated.

I do have some shots without the TC which have a sharper breast and looser crop, but none have the open beak, so I decided to go for the pose over the sharp breast

thanks again

Mike