Drake Shoveler

[David Salem]

Another one from this years "Ducks Unlimited" workshop. This is one of my favorite species of ducks to shoot in flight.
They have such beautiful form and colorful feathers. I hope you like it.

1DX---840mm---f6.3---ss1/3200th---ISO800---HH@8:45am---40% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[Richard Flack]

Hey David, I love the wing position, light, detail and colour on this guy. Well done in getting such a clean and detailed image. Any chance you have more space to the right, as if not I would be tempted to add a bit of canvas as the tail seems a little close to the edge

[Raybel Robles]

Beautiful image, lovely details and the down wing position is always a winner. Well done!

[David Salem]

Thanks Richard and Raybel.

Richard, yes I have space behind him. I didn't think it was to tight but I can easily loosen it up a bit. Thanks for your input.

[Lorant Voros]

Top notch as usual. Very nice colors and nice wing and body position. I am fine with the crop as it is. Well done, David.

[Steve Kaluski]

Pretty cool image David, great detail and the BKG is sympathetic to the subject and creates some nice 'pop'.

Not sure the 'Roberstson's' from 'DD' would agree?

TFS
Steve

[John Robinson]

Did this ages ago and forgot to press the post button!
Superb Shoveler flight shot David. Love the shoulder feather detail and colour..- and the green speculum too. I suppose the BG colour makes it easy to re do the comp if you feel inclined. Looks near enough to me
John

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dave, a better wing position you could not ask for, and you certainly nailed the sharpness too. I do like the various colours, and they stand out nicely against your smooth OOF BG. We have many wetlands around us, but we dont get shovellers up our end. I only get to shoot them, when Im in Cape Town, so thats only once a year.

[David Salem]

Thanks for the input everyone.

[arash_hazeghi]

what a sweet frame, light, wing position, BG all came together

[shane shacaluga]

Lovely Drake. Good position of wings and sharp all over. Exposure looks spot on too

How fast are these birds? Do you wait for them to take off for these shots?

[David Salem]

Thanks Arash

Shane,
Ducks in general are pretty fast flyers. Their bullet shaped bodies and their thiner sleek wings are designed for speed and distance. The ducks we are shooting aren't traveling at top speed because they are coming and going from the shooting spot, so maybe 30-40 miles per hour, but they can easily hit 50 miles per hour.
A big part of what I teach during my workshops is animal behavior. Understanding as much about your target species as possible will give you a big edge when it comes to getting nice take off, flight and action shots.
I watch the sitting ducks for some of the signs that they are about to leave then we lock on and shoot as they leave and fly by. This might be about 30% of the shots, the other 70% are shot as they are flying by at a higher speed and require a faster lock on and are a bit harder shots to get.
Hope this helps
Thanks

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks for the info! In my area the water where they land is inaccessible but the mallards do fly past at low level at warp speeds :)

will have to get the machete out to reach the waters edge.

Regards

[Jonathan Ashton]

Sorry I am late but this a fantastic image the colours details and the pose are just spot on, can't fault it.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear David,

This is STUNNING

Superb composition, colours, BG, HA, wing position. Super techs, well exposed, lovely PP work... David...I am afraid to post here after seeing this, very humbling

Warmest regards,

[Mike Poole]

Late to the party, but another beauty David - perfect downstroke, and the techs are as we expect from you.

Mike

[dankearl]

Just super IQ as usual. When do the stamps get printed?

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. I appreciate them.

Dan,
funny that you mentioned a duck stamp. I met a guy at this location that is a painter and competes for the Federal duck stamp and he has been using some of my images for inspiration. Not sure if this is one of them though.
Thanks

[Karl Egressy]

Killer shot, Dave.

[Glenn Conlan]

You are the master of our waterfowl in flight with wings down and perfect exposure and sharpness