Ruddy Duck (male breeding plumage)

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image at Lake Morton in Lakeland, Florida. This duck was hanging out with the regular ducks at the lake. I have never seen one in breeding plumage, quite striking in appearance. 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)
1/1000 F/5.6 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 280 AWB, camera supported by a knee pod
Post processed in Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 10
Cropped for composition and presentation

[John Robinson]

Grand little duck shot Joe. Pity they are causing so much trouble in Europe. Tail up would have been good. Water texture appealing.
Nice to see the D7000 can do the business.
JohnR

[Karl Egressy]

It is nice to capture one in full breeding plumage. I find the image a little dark.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Joe, I like the colours on this fellow, and comp wise, I would take off the bottom and LHS.

[William Dickson]

Beautiful plumage Joe, the colours are very nice. Its a wee bit dark on my screen as well.

Will

[Daniel Cadieux]

These guys are cute indeed. I got nothing on them in my files - perhaps some day! I do find the duck too high in the frame as posted, the reflection is not particularly strong so it is OK not fully including it.