"Nice Pair"

[David Salem]

Went scouting for birds at the location that Doug Brown and I are having our upcoming Southern California Waterfowl Workshop at, Ducks Unlimited.
I am happy to report that there are lots of ducks and shorebirds at the location already! There are many Shovelers, Teal, Mallards and Gadwall on the ponds along with plenty of Stilts, Avocets and Pipers zooming around continually. It made for an action packed morning with barely enough time to talk to your buddy and I wound up ripping through a 32 Gig card by 9:45am!! This is a Pair of Cinnamon Teal as they came banking in from the left. Getting one of these speedy little ducks sharp is hard enough, but two is just plain lucky!!
We still have a few openings left so if anyone is interested in a fun action packed workshop, look Doug or myself up for more info. Thanks.

1DX---840mm---f5.6---ss1/3200---ISO1000---HH@8:15am---35% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input.. I appreciate it.

David

[David Salem]

Or do you like the version with just the drake and no hen?
Thanks for your thoughts.

[Ian Wilson]

Stunning capture David. Almost unbelievable that you were able to get the pair in the frame AND in sharp focus. The pair for me is exceptional. Well done. Regards, Ian.

[Bill Dix]

Wonderful. I like them both, of course. I always like to see a pair captured together, and to get them both in flight is a real coup, even if her wing position isn't perfect. So I guess the birder in me likes Pane 1 better; the photographer prefers Pane 2.

[Marina Scarr]

My first thought was so cool to see 2 in the frame...if only the hen's far wing were more visible. Had the hen's flight pose been a tad better, the image of the pair would have been a winner all day long. Of course getting 2 of them sharp in the frame is no easy feat and it still an great image. However, the vertical I find more visually pleasing. The light, pose and colors are amazing.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the input. The next frame has the hen with a better wing position but it isn't as sharp.
Maybe I will look at it again to see if I can make it a biit more acceptable.
Thanks

[Stu Bowie]

Hi David, great double, and love the full banking pose of the male. Lovely colours on him too. Im fine with both in the frame as per your OP, even though the female does not have such a dramatic flight pose. Singling out the best flight pose irrespective of which has the better pose does work too, as per your repost.

[William Dickson]

Beautiful pair David. Both birds nice and sharp and the colours are awesome. Great BG aswell. thanks for sharing this. Good work.

[Richard Flack]

Super image David, getting both ducks in the frame and having them both sharp is just brilliant. I like the two together, as it is unique and not evkeryone can boast an image like this in their collection. I also like how the blue background makes them pop. Great stuff!

[Bob Smith]

An elegant image of a wonderful pair…./ these really are beautifully feathered birds--I really like the way the wingspreads of the two birds dovetail together here.

[Karl Egressy]

Striking image, looks good as a pair or the male alone.

[David Salem]

Went back and looked at the next frame. Not as bad as I thought so I processed and reposted it. Better wing position on the hen but not quite as nice on the Drake.
Do you like it better as a pair shot and maybe the OP as a single shot? Thanks again for your thoughts.

[gail bisson]

What a killer 3 frames.
I love them all but for different reasons.
Like Bill said, the birder in me loves the OP because of the excellent view of both sexes. I do prefer Pane 12 over the OP because of the females' wing position. The drakes wing position is superb in both images.
The photographer in me prefers the pane 2 image.
The IQ of your images keeps getting better and better David. Sure do wish I could go on your duck workshop. Fingers crossed the dates work for me in 2016.
Gail

[Aidan Briggs]

Good stuff David. I easily prefer the image in pane 12 with the two nice poses. Awesome. Given that one, I would toss the first image or keep a version with just the male. Exposure, sharpness are good of course.

[Tiago Caravana]

Everything has already been said. I would like to congratulate you for having both in focus, with 5.6 and 840mm!
Concerning the different versions, I also prefer the last post because of the female's wing position

[Robert Kimbrell]

Pane 12 for me David, Beautiful wing positions, Excellent IQ, Looks like you have a great location for your workshop.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone! I should have posted pane 12 to begin with and posted the single drake on his own as Aidan suggested. I didn't think pane 12 was as sharp as it was.
Thanks for the help and the extra set of eyes. :)

[Marina Scarr]

The last RP is the best for me!. That's one heck of an image, David!

[Brian E. Small]

David,

Give me a minute to wipe the drool off my keyboard before responding.

O.K., I've had my minute...............I love all of them..............in a word KILLER!! Can I ask what AF settings you are using with the 1DX for these shots? Just curios..............thanks.

[Ian McLachlan]

The second image is wonderful but the first grabs me because of the better separation of the birds and the difference of the wing positions, which I like. In that image the main subject is perfect I reckon.More of the birds colours showing as well. Brillliant.

[Joseph Przybyla]

The repost of the pair rocks. Amazing that you captured both wing positions perfectly. Thank you for sharing.

[arash_hazeghi]

the image in pane 12 is killer, wish it were mine Dave!

[dankearl]

You're just showing off now....
Pane 12 is the best duck flight photo I have ever seen.

[David Salem]

Thanks again everyone for the comments and great suggestions. I will keep the drake on his own from the first frame and use pane 12 as the pair frame.

Thanks for your comment Brian, I appreciate it. I have been playing around with a few different settings for IF stuff and have come up with "Case 3" as giving me my best results along with the first setting of focus assist points, so four active around the center one. Still not awesome because I shoot allot of in flight with a varied BG so if you are not dead on the middle square, you are hosed. In the sky it locks on great. It's as good as I can figure out.
Thanks and hope to see you soon.

[David Salem]

I was typing while you were posting Dan. Thanks allot!! I am glad that you like it. I knew when they flew by and I had locked on really well, I had gotten something good, so thanks again.

[Jim Crosswell]

Stunning set of images David! I am picking pane 12 but all of them are great. I wish I had these kind of sorting problems.

[Grace Scalzo]

It's like asking which of your kids you like the best. All are superb, but #12 the female's face looks ever so slightly over sharpened (altho at this size, hard to judge). Wonderful work, poses absolutely rock as do your colors.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Sick! Pane 12 it is for me. You make this look so easy Dave. How about 3 birds next time? :)

I can imagine how instructive your workshop is going to be for aspiring flight photographers. I've had the pleasure of photographing with both Dave and Doug, and they just don't miss :)
Dave's knowledge of the local hotspots, and bird behavior is second to none.
A whole-hearted endorsement from me (fwiw); I'm sure it's going to be a terrific workshop!

[David Salem]

Thanks again everyone. I really appreciate the comments and help.

Grace, You are exactly right. I over sharpened the hens face a bit to much on pane 12 because i thought it didn't look as sharp but i now see that i could back off a bit and still be acceptable. Thanks and good eyes.

Sid, Thanks so much for your nice comment and for your endorsement of our workshop. Means allot to me coming from a solid photographer like yourself. Hope to see you soon and look forward to more from your trip!

[Jim Neiger]

David, All 3 versions are just KILLER! Very well done! BFAM

[Binu John]

Killer shots, David! The 3rd version is my favorite. Excellent IQ, poses, BG and processing. Well done as usual.