This is from earlier in the year taken at Shoreline park, Mountainview. This was one of those rare opportunity, I got both of them raising their head in unison! The settings were
Indranil, I like the symmetrical head positions and the colors.
The subjects, esp. the drake, seem soft. Is it critical-focus issue? The tail side of the hen seems sharper. Composition-wise, I'd have more room on top and crop from bottom. Whites seem very bright.
What a great opportunity. Whites look fine to me. I agree about the softness. I suspect that taking the same photo with a better lens could have made a big difference. Maybe the Sigma 50-500mm cannot deliver the IQ standards we are used to from the Canon/Nikon primes.