Ruddy duck

[Grace Scalzo]

I have been so inspired by all the great duck images on this site this past winter that I tried for a few myself. This was taken at one of Long Island's prettiest state parks (Connetquot River) where a nice collection of ducks winter each year. I laid down on a little fishing pier and curiosity got the best of this ruddy who came over to check me out then went on about her business.

1/1600, f 6.3, ISO800
Canon mk4, 500 f4

[Randy Stout]

Grace:

I like her riding on the side of the wave. Gives some depth to the water without overpowering her.
Good shooting angle, sharp, well exposed.

There certainly have been some wonderful duck shots recently

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Loverly little surfing duckie. I am a sucker for soft blue water. Could it use a bit of CCW rotation? SH and EXP perfect.

[Danny J Brown]

Hi Grace,

I also love the way the ruddy is riding the blue wave and it has such a cute look on its face, as well. The water fades to bokeh so beautifully on this shot. Your aperture setting really nailed the complete bill, even though it is aimed toward you....nice work there. Water drops are very nice too. I'd like to see another shot of the little critter with the upturned tail if you have one.

I find the image amazingly smooth at ISO 800. Did you do any noise control on the background or is this just a straight RAW to compressed JPG conversion. If the latter, I'm inspired to shoot more at ISO 800 with my 1D4. Take care.

DB

[Grace Scalzo]

Thanks, Randy, Artie, and Danny. Perhaps on the CCW, I couldn't figure it out. I think because the duck is angled towards us and tipped a bit on the wave it's hard to tell. I have no shots of the upturned tail, Danny, sure would like one. I'm fairly sure that I did run some noise reduction here. I keep it real simple...I select the subject, refine the edges by expanding, then select the inverse and use Photoshop's noise reduction. Between that technique, and keeping my histogram toward the right, I find the mk4 very usable at ISO 800.

[Danny J Brown]

Thanks, Randy, Artie, and Danny. Perhaps on the CCW, I couldn't figure it out. I think because the duck is angled towards us and tipped a bit on the wave it's hard to tell. I have no shots of the upturned tail, Danny, sure would like one. I'm fairly sure that I did run some noise reduction here. I keep it real simple...I select the subject, refine the edges by expanding, then select the inverse and use Photoshop's noise reduction. Between that technique, and keeping my histogram toward the right, I find the mk4 very usable at ISO 800.

Thanks Grace.

[denise ippolito]

Grace, The water is so regal and beautiful and adds nicely to the image.
How would you figure out the rotation on this one. What would you use to go off of?

[Arthur Morris]

As for the rotation, sometimes we can go by the seat of our pants, try it, and always retreat if it looks goofy.

[Grace Scalzo]

Denise, I basically went by my eye on this one, and if you do a browser scroll, it looks level. I also went by the top of the wave closet to the duck. I think Artie has the best answer here. :) As for the water, it was one of those late winter days where the sky was perfectly clear and blue. My favorite.
Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it.

[Stu Bowie]

Grace, I like the angle and low angle of capture. Overall sharp, and the droplets add interest. The wave just puts this up another notch.