White-faced Duck

[Stu Bowie]

This was taken at a local birding spot in Pretoria two weekends ago. Your feedback is always appreciated.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/2000
F/5.6
ISO 640

Exp Comp +0.33
Hand held

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Very sharp, well exposed, nice full down wing position.
The BG looks just a bit odd with the gray streaks, probably just wave action. Did you need to do any post on the background, NR, etc?

Very nice overall!

Randy

[denise ippolito]

Stuart, It's hard to follow one of Randy's critiques, he doesn't miss much! I like the sharp details and the wing position too and was wondering about the grey streaks.

[Stu Bowie]

Randy, Denise, thanks for your feedback. The streaks in the BG are as shot, so I left them as is. They are OOF reflections. The only work done on the BG was NR.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Thanks for the info. Perhaps a bit of pan blur?

Randy

[Grace Scalzo]

I'm so pulled in to this image by the sharpness of the head and the feathers on his back. Lovely colors, and position in the frame, I like this alot. The gray streaks do not seem to bother me at all.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Top class photography Stu... great image

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Awesome flight pose and beautiful lighting and detail Stuart. Agree it is a first class capture !!! Big congratulations !:)

[Joe Senzatimore]

Only good things to say about this one. Everything comes together to create a stunning image.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Stuart, the IQ really stands out here. Loved the wet look. Fantastic sharpness, exposure and freeze. Nice-looking duck too. TFS.

[Gen Benjamin]

This image is stunning, the detail, the sharpness, the wing position, the eye contact I love it all. The streaks don't bother me.
Gen

[Krijn Trimbos]

Excellent shot here Stuart. Although the head is angled every so slightly away from the viewer I love this nonetheless. Great separation from the BG and good wingposition. Would also try and see what this looks like without the grey streaks in the BG if it fits your personal ethics. Well done!

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you for the great feedback and comments. For those who would like to see it without the 'streaks' - here is the repost.

[Krijn Trimbos]

The repost is killer Stuart love it!

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

For me, the repost eliminated the one issue I had with the original!

Great job.

Randy

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Sharpness, wing position and BG in the repost look great. If the head were angled toward you a little bit more, it would have put it over the top for me.

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent Stuart, I actually like this HA better for wing-down flight shots, when the bird is flying towards the camera wings are angled relative to sensor plane and not all top side details are visible. Excellent SH and EXP, congrats!

[Ofer Levy]

The repost is fantastic!!!

[Nico Steenberg]

Hey Stu this must be your White face to date. Well done on this !!!!!