Displaying Long-Tailed Duck

[gail bisson]

I took this in Barrow, Alaska last year. Wish I was going back again this year. What an amazing place when the sun shines!
Canon 1DX
600mm II and 1.4x
ISO 800 SS 1/1600 F 8.0
Taken from the shore and call used to attract.
PP: Small crop to 80% FF, clarity slider at +15, vibrance at +4, saturation +14, levels in CS5, Detail Extractor to duck at 2 %, smoothed out some irregularities in the water, USM to JPEG at 35% and 0.3 pixels
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail
PS Some may think the white body feathers are greyish looking because they were "burned" in PP but I did nothing to the feathers. This is the way they were.

[Joe Subolefsky]

That is just KILLER! I would have cloned out the few water drops on the chest but that is really really nit picking.Awesome image wish it was mine.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Great pose and vivid colours. Low angle works really. Well exposed, sharp. I'm wondering if the duck could be a tad lower in the frame with its upward glance.

[Robert Kimbrell]

A killer image Gail. The light is beautiful here. A very nice pose and pleasing background.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Amazing image, Gail. Doesn't get much better than this. Few potential comp tweaks possible, but really wouldn't touch anything else. Just love it.

[Marina Scarr]

What a stunning image and pose, Gail. I love the bird against this dark blue water, and the feather patterns are stunning and full of details.

[Karl Egressy]

Great pose, excellent POV and IQ, Gail.

[Lorant Voros]

I like everything about it. Great IQ and lovely blue. Great pose and I love that the beak stays in the blue area. Nice work, Gail.

[Grace Scalzo]

Gail, Wonderful rich choclate browns and of course the displaying posture is sweet. It happens so quickly that you must have been right ready. I'm not in love with this composition....feel that the tail is too close to the left edge and too much on the bottom. (Not the easiest species to compose for with that long tail). If you don't have more room on the tail side, you could trim from the right to balance. Just my opinion, of course.

[Frank Schauf]

Great picture, nice deep shooting position in front of a perfect background, Gail.

[Mike Poole]

Stunning light, and a very attractive pose, no nits from me at all, lovely shot

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

What an incredibly beautiful image Gail!
I love the three-toned BG, the pose of the bird, the detail, the sharpness and just everything about it.
I would not change a thing, except sit back in awe and admire it.

[David Salem]

The sun sure was shining bright and clean that night, or I guess it could have been any time of the day up there. The image is striking and beautiful and the pose is perfect and parallel showing all of this beautiful drakes form and colors.
The thing that takes this up a few notches is the killer blue water color against the tan above. Very nice, that's one you might contemplate printing! Oh, a little more room on the left to highlight the tail a bit more and you might need a bit of room for the frame you choose for the wall anyway :)