Black-bellied Whistling Duck

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image of a Black-bellied Whistling Duck dropping in for a landing at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/1600 F/5.6 Matrix Metering +1 1/3 EV ISO 800 AWB
Post processed in Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 10, branch with green vegetation removed from the right side of image
Cropped for composition and presentationi

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Joseph,
I really like the landing pose you have captured and the high key look. The bird really stands out. Was this a big crop? Looking at the head and body, IQ seems just a little off to me.
Allen

[Marina Scarr]

The high key works really well here, and the duck and vegetation pop so well against it. Fun pose and love those feet. Glad you have a little catch light.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent landing pose captured, Joe.

[Bill Dix]

Good landing pose, Joe. Love the feet, and the way he's looking where he's headed, and the touch of green.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing, and commenting, very much appreciated.

There were a couple things the bugged me about this image so today I went back to the drawing board. I think I have it where I want it, here is an edit and repost.

[Allen Sparks]

Details and composition look better to me in the repost. May want to check the noise level in the wings to the left. A very nice landing pose of a beautiful duck - worth the rework you did.
Allen

[Arthur Morris]

Love the pose and esp. those hanging feet but I too would ask if this is a big crop s IQ looks a bit suspect. Taking out some YELLOW might help, esp. with the green leaves... a