African Black Duck

[Stu Bowie]

Not a common species, but these guys do frequent our local birding spot in Pretoria. I would normally crop this to a horizontal, but thought I would try a vertical. I would like to hear your thoughts on something slightly different.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/2500
F/6.3
ISO 800

Exp comp 0
Hand Held.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

I find the distorted reflection, esp. the white patches distracting from the bird itself. My eyes keep darting down to the reflection, rather than staying with the bird. If you want, you might try lowering the luminosity of the reflection a bit, so it doesn't compete so much with the bird itself.

The alternating bands of brown and light above the bird also pull my eye away from the bird.

I would be tempted to crop in fairly tight on the bird to reduce these distractions.

Just my .02!

Randy

[Subharghya]

This image is WOW ... The Pose of the Duck and the Reflection on top of that light patterns on the Duck's body !! Excellent ... Perfect for me !!

PS : The distortion of the reflection is absolutely fine with me .. I feel it is adding some interestingness to the whole image in contrast to a perfect mirror like reflection !! Overall it evokes a feeling of Abstractness in my mind and that's Gr8 !!

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I really like the pose and the wing position!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I'm glad you went for a vertical crop. I like the light, wing position, sharpness and eye contact and don't find the reflection overly distracting.

[Brian Barcelos]

Very nice wing position and I like the reflection, comp is nice also. Only thing I would change is toning down the dark ripples in the BG and the reflected light on his chest and wing. Congrats

Brian

[Chris Kotze]

Great show of the wings and a super landing pose well captured.

[carole wiley]

I like this as presented. The reflection is wonderful for me...

[Kobus Tollig]

Ditto Randy here. Still nice pose and good timing

[susanschermer]

My eye went straight to this image on page one of the bird forum. It is very artistic and technically great. I love the brown bands in the water as a compliment to the brown tones of the bird. It makes the image look painterly.

[Arthur Morris]

Count me in the "I love this one" camp. I am confused about one thing: was this a VERT ORIG?

The only minor thing that bugs me is the "detached" reflection of the three tertial tips of the bird's left wing. Pose, wing position, timing, and the hanging feet are all A-1.

[Harshad Barve]

this is picture perfect for me
TFS

[Ryan Lambert]

Super image here, good pose, detail and timing - the lines in the BG are maybe a tad distracting...

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I like the vertical mate. Well done. Reflection is fine as is the BG. You nailed it. It's pin sharp! Congrats! My only critique is WHY NOT 800 pixels high?

[Kiran Poonacha]

Beautifully executed, all said above.. I would add "congrats"

[Dave Barnes]

I think the comp works well Stu. Moment well captured with the bird's tail just touching the water.
Good to get this guy in flight.
Could be a tad oversharpened. (starting to look a bit crunchy?)

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you so much for the varied comments, positive crits, and feedback. Much appreciated.

Artie, I actually captured this in normal horizontal mode, but in presenting it, I decided to crop it to a vertical.

[Arthur Morris]

this is picture perfect for me TFS

Harshad, If you like an image, please explain why. Thanks. And do check out the "Great Shot" Remminder Sticky at the top of the Avian page here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=25608

[Krijn Trimbos]

Excellent shot Stuart. The wing position, fly in angle, HA, colours and EXP are spot on IMO. I agree with Arties observation of the detached reflection.