Mallard drake take-off. with some habitat.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

40D. 400f5.6L at f/6.3. iso 640. 1/1250s.

All C&C welcome.

[Paul Lagasi]

I like the explosion off the surface of this one, water droplets..maybe it needs just a bit of sharpening of the head..but I am on a computer at work...TFS

[James Salywoda]

Awesome! Nice job getting this Drake pulling out and rising in a hurry I really like the falling water drops as they add to the image.

[Craig Brelsford]

Kaustubh, I like this shot. You had good light to work with and were standing with the sun almost directly behind you. The water droplets and wing blur communicate the action. Meanwhile, the head of the duck is sharp. I'd like just a bit more space around the duck. Feels just a bit tight.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Nice and sharp. Love the pose and water droplets. I'd crop a sliver from the bottom to eliminate the dark lines, which I know are waves or whatever, but they grab my attention. ;)

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Thx everybody.

Akos, I see your point about the bottom. Thx a lot.

Paul, you are right..head is not as sharp as it should be. In such fast action shots, its hard to keep the focus point on the head. The 40D quickly latches on to the BG even if the focus point shifts a bit from the head. I usually try to put the focus point on the thick part of the duck( as it is easier to maintain it there when tracking) and let DOF take care of the rest. It works better of course when the duck is flying parallel to the camera.......but not so well when the duck is flying towards the camera like this shot.