Common Merganser hen in flight

[Bill Dix]

Here's another Common Merganser hen, taken several weeks ago at my local lake, late in the afternoon. I cleaned up some distracting background. C&C always appreciated.

D7000, 500f4 + 1.4, ISO 1000, 1/2000s @ f/7.1 manual, gitzo and mongoose

[John Robinson]

Thats nice Bill !
perfect head angle and wing positionn. I like the actual line f the water which gives the true "lake" effect
Good stuff
JohnR

[Randy Stout]

Bill:

As John mentioned nice angle in frame. Well exposed, good bg. Light is nice.

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice light here, and good cloning work. Did you enhance the pupil? Just seems large for the amount of light hitting it.

[arash_hazeghi]

The light was magical here, the waves on the BG add to the image as well. I wish the wings were fully raised. As Dan mentioned, the eye does look strange to me as well, and overall the head also looks soft too.

TFS

[Bill Dix]

Thanks guys. No, Daniel, I didn't do anything to the eye. I went back and looked at several other frames in the sequence and they all have a rather large pupil, I guess because the light was getting dim?

When I get time, I'll go back and see if I can sharpen it up a bit. I also have at least one other frame with higher wing position, that maybe I can work up as well.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the flight angle, light, exposure, BG and composition. I agree that a better wing position would have been nice. Very well done Bill.

[David Salem]

Thats some great light you caught this guy in and I like the flight angle he is coming at you in. Ya, the wing position could be a bit better but it's not to bad either. Maybe a little more sharpening to clean it up a bit but otherwise a nice look at this duck in flight.