Pintail hen

[Bob Smith]

Pintail hen preening in the afternoon sun.7D Mark II; EF100-400 f4.5-5.6 II @400mm;ISO640;f7.1;1/1600;HH; manual exp.;

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the preening pose. The details are sharp but I see some noise in the darker feathers as well as the BG. I wish the sun was behind you. I would clone out the OOF stick to the left which I find distracting

TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

The preening pose is alright, I love the splayed tail feathers. Good details. A better light angle to illuminate the body would have been ideal, but at least the face is nicely lit. Were able to get down even lower? I ask this because doing so would have minimized the BG beyond the feet and possibly get separation between the duck's belly and rock.

[Bob Smith]

Stick eliminated and NR carried out with Topaz DeNoise 5 after applying what NR is available in Aperture. Sitting (as I was here) is the best I can do for getting lower due to neck spasms (left over from radiation treatment 10 yrs. ago) when I lie down and then extend my neck to look through the viewfinder.