The water was absolutely perfect for Wood Duck photography. In this frame the handsome fellow swam through the best spot (perhaps strategic food placement helped a tad here). A good background for the theme!
Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II , manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/800s., f/5, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, FF, a few specks in the water removed via spot removal tool, duck encouraged closer with peanuts handouts.
Hi Dan, you couldnt capture a more colourful image, and what a perfect angled swimmimg pose too. Well exposed on the Wood Duck, tack sharp, and the colour of the water rounds the image off nicely to fit the theme.
That spot has produced some amazing duck photos! Sometimes the reflection in the water was simply awesome like in this shot. It makes me look forward to fall next year :)
Very well done. What I like most is the duck seems a tad smaller than we may typically see, showing off a little more of the water.