Green-winged Teal

[Kirk Benson]

Long time no see, hope everyone is doing well.

This was taken on a beautiful morning last December at my favorite duck pond. Because the trail is 8-10 feet above the water it's a great spot to catch ducks flying in and out of the pond. You've seen many great pics from David, Tim, and other SoCal shooters at this pond. I was fortunate to catch this drake as he flew low across the water right past me... you can barely make out his shadow on the water just in front of him.

D500 | 500 f/4 AF-S D (Non VR) | 1/3200s f/5.6 ISO 400 Manual - Group AF - Handheld ~ Processed in PSCC

All C&C are greatly encouraged and most appreciated. Thanks for looking at what I love to do. :-)

Kirk

[arash_hazeghi]

lovely pose and clean BG Kirik, nice topside view of the duck

[Glenn Pure]

Really spectacular shot, Kirk. I love that green speculum and band behind the eye. The detail on the rest of the bird is superb as well. Lighting and wing angle excellent too. So much to like here... thanks for sharing.

[Alex Becker]

Really nice detail, pose, and nice light. The colors on these birds is just amazing. TFS

[Bill Dix]

Great downwing flight pose with nice clean background. Very handsome capture. Wish we had a pond like that.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Wonderful details and colours, super pose.
(Is that a water droplet about 2cm from bottom right of tail? Also more or less centre, bottom and 5/7 way down on RHS).

[Joseph Przybyla]

Beautiful flight image of a Green-winged Teal. I cannot see anything to improve. Thank you for sharing, Kirk.

[Tim Foltz]

Kirk, I'm excited and hoping for a good season this winter. Excellent shot of this speed demon, nice colors and details and the blue sky reflecting in the water makes for a wonderful BG.

-Tim

[David Salem]

Holy Crap!! This is totally awesome Kirk!! The light angle is flipping perfect and everything fell into place from there. Looks like you plugged him into an electrical socket! Doesn't get much better than this!!
It sometimes depends on where and when you processed this, at midnight in a dark office or during the day on a laptop, but on my calibrated monitor it looks like its just a little dark. Could be mine or your monitor adjustments too. Either way, a stellar Image.
Hope to see you out there this season

[David Salem]

Here is what I see on my monitor. Not a huge difference but enough to give it a bit more pop and color. I only adjusted the whites and blacks in levels and then cleaned up the catchlight and a few things in the BG. Once again, congrats on this killer capture!

[Arthur Morris]

Great image with an amazing view of the near dorsal wing surface. David's repost brings it up a notch especially what he did with the face and eye.

with love, artie

[Kirk Benson]

Many thanks to each of you for your generous words, they are most appreciated and I'm so glad you enjoyed the image. :-)

Kirk

[Kirk Benson]

Wonderful details and colours, super pose.
(Is that a water droplet about 2cm from bottom right of tail? Also more or less centre, bottom and 5/7 way down on RHS).

Thanks Jonathan. I think what you're seeing are just bits of stuff floating on the surface of the pond... I left them on purpose to add some texture to the water. :-)

Kirk

[Kirk Benson]

Holy Crap!! This is totally awesome Kirk!! The light angle is flipping perfect and everything fell into place from there. Looks like you plugged him into an electrical socket! Doesn't get much better than this!!
It sometimes depends on where and when you processed this, at midnight in a dark office or during the day on a laptop, but on my calibrated monitor it looks like its just a little dark. Could be mine or your monitor adjustments too. Either way, a stellar Image.
Hope to see you out there this season

Holy Crap David, thanks for the good words buddy... really appreciate it. :-)

I do all my processing on a calibrated MacBook Pro and am generally pleased with the results... that being said, you're small adjustments in Levels brightened the image in a very good way... well done and thank you.

Be well, and yes I hope we can shoot together this season.

Kirk