Wood Duck portrait.

[Daniel Cadieux]

This is the closest I've ever been to a wild Wood Duck...immaculate plumage, but of course it just had to have a dirty bill for its' portrait !! Full-frame image, except cropped to a 5:4 aspect ratio. Baited with food.

Canon 30D + 100-400L @400mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/2500s., f/6.3, ISO 400.

[Gary Esman]

Hi Daniel, I think the dirty beak adds a lot of character to this fella. The exposure could not be more spot on, fantastic shot, eye looks great.

Gary.

[Pieter de Waal]

An excellent portrait Daniel, with great detail. What I like about this one is the exposure of the colours. The dirt on the bill does not bother me, part of nature.

[Tom Rambaut]

Is there something your not telling us Daniel? How do you get so close? I'm starting to wonder if the birds that you are photographing are real living breathing birds at all, not stuffed.

This is lovley - I'm still amazed by the look of this duck.

[Alan Murphy]

Great detail, head angle, BG and processing. No problem with the dirty bill.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Superb IQ...Good comp and top exp...Very nicely done here Daniel, the bird really pops from the light BG

[DanWalters]

Great detail and I like the little bit of dirt on the bill.

[Tom Redd]

Excellent sharpness, detail, color and exposure. They are beautiful ducks.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Lovely exposure , and the colours are brilliant !!

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful portrait, Daniel. Colors, iridescence, exposure and detail are perfect. I love it. wish I could get half as close to a Wood Duck.