Drake Portrait - High key

[Steve Large]

Hi Everyone,
Here is a shot of a drake Wood Duck taken at the local marsh here in Nanaimo Canada. Kind of interesting the way the indirect sunlight worked out here. Almost like I had flashed him from different angles. Only thing that I was concerned with was the black on his face. Do you think it looks a bit blocked? Seems alright in the original but the smaller version looks different somehow. This shot is cropped to about 80 percent of original size to take out some grass near his tail. Adjustments made in Lightroom and some mild filtering in Photoshop.

Stats: Canon 50D, 500 F/4 with 1.4X, ISO 800, 1/160 at F/8, Spot metering, Aperture Priority

Thanks for looking,

Steve

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Looks pretty good, I like the sharpness, eye contact and angle. I might reduce the blue saturation in the whites on the chest.

[Steve Canuel]

Almost looks like he was posing for you in the studio. Nice job on the color sheens.

[Steve Large]

Thanks Axel and Steve,
I had thought the same thing myself when I saw how this came out. Just one of those rare occaisions where the light was just right. Left my "Better Beamer" back at the car so no flash used at all. Background is the sky reflected off the water surface of the marsh.

Steve