While birding along the Muddy River in Boston, I came across this male Wood Duck. Anytime a Mallard or Black Duck came near he got aggressive and started calling until they backed off. I love their little squeaks!
Very slightly cropped, small clockwise rotation, levels adjusted and sharpened
Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Lens: Canon EF 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 L IS
Exposure: 1/320
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 400 mm
ISO: 400
Natural Light
You have some nice colors showing on your drake, open bill, partially erected crest, warm water color with a few subtle leaves, all good.
If the IQ will hold up, and I expect it will, I would be tempted to crop considerably tighter from below, to eliminate most of the reflection, which is rather distorted.
I know you rotated it, but it still seems like it could go a sliver more CW.
Nice perky pose, good colours. I personally like the comp as is, but I agree it needs even more CW rotation. I would also do some water clean-up but I understand if you like it this way. Some fill may have hlped with the face's blacks. Overall well done!
A cute little woody with some attitude, apparently! I too love their sounds and can listen to them all day. Good instruction above to make it even better. Thanks.
I like Daniel's choice of words: "perky" pose. I probably wouldn't have immediately noticed had you not mentioned it, but since you mentioned the CW rotation, I'm going to join the chorus and call for a little more adjusting. You captured the rainbow of color rather well. Congrats.