Tufted Duck

[Rich Steel]

Hi

I took a visit to a local pond recently where there are a few Tufted Duck in residence. I took a few photos and noticed a narrow yellow / orange reflection on the water caused by a shrub on the far bank and so lined up with it and waited for a duck to pass over.



Taken with 7D and 500mm and 1.4TC. Taken at ISO 400 -0.3EC F6.3 at 1/640s.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Compacy Flash card filled New Year.

Cheers

Rich

[Krijn Trimbos]

Gorgeous shot Rich! Love the wing flap, the eye contact, the beautiful water colour, and perfect exposure! Wish you a merry christmas as well and hope you'll have a productive (photographic) 2010.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

A real 'wow shot' Rich. Loved the pose, colors and the eye contact. Very good job with exposing the blacks.

[Bill Dix]

You found just the right bush to make this a real keeper! Great sharp eye and wing flap. Well done. And Merry Christmas.

[Ofer Levy]

Fantastic image !! Awesome low angle, pose, colours - really stunning.
Does this version look good on your monitor? Opened it up a bit using levels and S/H as well as added some canvas to the sides.
Merry Christmas!

[Dan Brown]

Smashing shot man! Love the bg and the wing position! I wish for the tuft to show a bit more but this is great!

[Dan Busby]

I was so taken with the shot I wouldn't have picked it up myself, but I think Ofer's tuning does bring it more alive - or "open it up".

[Danny J Brown]

Exceptional shot, Rich. Just beautiful light and color.

[Rich Steel]

Thanks for the comments. I prefer Ofer's version which has more 'pop' and many thanks for taking the time for taking it in to PS:). Ofer's version looks very similar to the one I currently have for my Desktop Wallpaper, so I must have played around with that one more than the one I posted here.

Cheers

Rich

[Kim Rollins]

Exceptional shot here.

Ofer suggested and showed some things good for it too. Such things are fun to watch and learn from.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Very cool angle, pose, sharpness and BG but the colors put it over the top for me.

[Ofer Levy]

I am pleased you like it Rich. I always feel a bit uncomfortable to repost such a stunning image as people can get annoyed but on the other hand this is a critique forum and we are all here to learn from each other.
Cheers! ;)

[Mike Lentz]

STUNNING! The exposure was the first thing that stood out to my eye! The re-post maximized your image!

[Grace Scalzo]

Fabulous image made even better by Mr. Levy. Colors are wonderful.

[Harshad Barve]

SPECTACULAR is the word man , Just too good
TFS

[Doug Brown]

What a pose! About as good as it gets! And the water color works perfectly with the colors of the duck.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Love the original !! No nits . Merry Christmas to you too !!

[Kiran Poonacha]

all said above, I love this too..

[Stephen Stephen]

Beautiful image Rich but I do like Ofer's adjustments. It really shows the irridescence on the head.

[Nagesh Mula]

This is lovely picture Rich, the BG is stunning and wing position as well as that beautiful smile in the ducks face is good one. Congrats!!

[Seyed Babak Musavi]

What a very nice shot ! I like BG , real good pose and sharpness .
With best wishes in new year
Babak