Heres a Mallard in flight from NJ. In post I added a bit of canvas to the top, brought up some shadows and darks, cropped about 20%, NR, and sharpened.
Camera: Nikon D500
Lens: 200-500mm f/5.6 at 500mm
Specs: 1/1600 ISO 450 f/7.1
A nice sharp image, Alex - well tracked.
I wish the head were a bit lighter so you had the texture between the head and neck but it does look like hte light was quite strong.
Love the look of this one. The bird appears to be flying out the frame. Well captured Alex. I like the detail you have, and also the movement on the wings which bring it alive.
Quite a dynamic frame! My only wish would have been for the head to be better lit to bring out the iridescence. I love the curled feet, nice BG, and the far wing.
Hi Alex, I took the liberty to have a go at your image. To me the whites appeared to gray, and like Jon suggested the darks could be lifted. I also rotated the image slightly counter clockwise to level the clouds. To do the adjustments I used the Adjustment Brush in Lightroom to dodge the areas mentioned. I also raised the whites a bit with the White Slider. I think if you go back to your original you can really make this image pop. Nice image, thank you for sharing.
Joe Przybyla
"Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams
Hi Joseph, thanks for the edit and taking the time to do -- I see what you mean now in re: to the whites. I always have trouble with those and go back and forth in the edits a lot. I'll go back to the original tonight and see what I can do. Thanks again all, really appreciate it