Wood Duck Portrait

[Doug Brown]

I'm really impressed with the dynamic range of the Mark IV. This is about the best black and white detail I've ever gotten in a Wood Duck image. I'm also impressed with the level of detail captured in the RAW files. This coming week, I'll be down at the Bosque doing some flight photography with the new body.



Canon 1D Mark IV, 400mm, f/7.1, 1/2500, ISO 400, -1 EC, hand held

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great details, the little droplets make this one for me. Exposure looks very good, too.

[Deborah Hanson]

Beautiful detail and colors. As comment above, I like the water droplets - the ones on top of the head are best - shows the repellent (correct term?) nature of the feathers.
Also, I always notice when the background mirrors colors that are in the bird (as in this case) - which for me compliments the bird as opposed to fighting with it.

Do the higher end cameras (pro bodies) really make a difference in detail? (not debating brands - just pro vs. prosumer etc). I just mention it because you credit the camera for the detail - not the photographer :-).

Deb

[Stu Bowie]

You have outdone yourself here Doub. Incredible detail and colours, and overall, you certainly nailed the exposure. I cant decide which droplet puts this over the top. Congrats on a fine image.

[Bill Dix]

Truly amazing color and detail; wonderful exposure control. This can't be a huge crop to hold that detail, but how did you get so close to a wood duck to capture this with a 400mm lens?

[Doug Brown]

This can't be a huge crop to hold that detail, but how did you get so close to a wood duck to capture this with a 400mm lens?

I photograph Wood Ducks at the Rio Grande Zoo in Albuquerque. They're all wild birds, but they're not afraid of people for the most part. My distance to subject was 6.5 m.

[Doug Brown]

Here's a 100% crop of the LR-processed RAW file (default levels of sharpening and NR).

[Ofer Levy]

Gorgeous portrait! Techs look perfect to me and colours are amazing.