Theme: Wood Duck from the Dark Side...

[annmpacheco]

This may be a first year male because of the coloring on his head. I especially liked the BG here, but not so happy about the backside head feathers, looks blurred to me. Last post for the year here, cheers to all.
!Dx 500 mm iso 640, f8, 1/640

[Daniel Cadieux]

You have a female Wood Duck here - the males have a red eye, even when in non-breeding plumage. The females, in right light, sometimes reflect some colours on the head like you have here.

I like the image, and you are right about the BG...very neat "brushstroke" patterns. Perfect head angle, and you got some nice sheen on some of the feathers. I would have preferred the duck a bit more to the left of the frame.

Have a Happy New Year!!

[Karl Egressy]

Nice shot of a female, Wood Duck. Yes, they tend to be very colorful in the right light and the white patch around the eye is always a giveaway.

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the low angle but the IQ isn't there just like your previous images. Can you upload the RAW file somewhere ? Il take a look at it as I suspect it's your processing that's lacking here

TFS

[annmpacheco]

I like the low angle but the IQ isn't there just like your previous images. Can you upload the RAW file somewhere ? Il take a look at it as I suspect it's your processing that's lacking here

TFS

Thank you Arash, I would appreciate your time and input. Please personal message me and suggest where I can upload a RAW file. Do you have dropbox? Thanks

[arash_hazeghi]

Ann kindly sent the RAW file to check it out, it is now evident where the loss of IQ is coming from. The image is simply too much of a crop. here is the original, the duck is less than 10% of the frame and thus doesn't have much detail



having said that I processed the file, I noticed a strong magenta cast in the OP which wasn't present in RAW (it comes from incorrect WB during RAW conversion). I was able to extract a bit more details in DPP then used smart sharpen in PS CC to selectively sharpen the duck. Nevertheless the duck needs to be at least two times closer to have a keeper file






hope this helps