Well, it's better photographing mallards than nothing! Sharp, and good HA. I like the foot showing through the water. I find the subject rather tight in the frame, and the composition would additionally be improved by cropping below and adding canvas top and left (if you have it).
Very nice sharpness and eye contact, Simon.
I agree with Daniel - giving the duck more room to swim into will improve this image compositionally, so will moving the bird down in the frame.
Looks like the head is in a bit of a shade as compared to the tail.
Please share your exif data as that will help us critique better.
Exposure looks very good and I too love the dangling foot.
Thats the good thing about Mallards...they are always there. liked the sharpness. Agree that needs more room. The shooting angle is a tad too high for my tastes. Was going lower possible?
Thanks for all the comments. Very useful as I tend to concentrate so much on the post processing but forget about the composition. One thing I have learnt from viewing all the amazing images here is that they are at a much lower position to how I photograph, so I agree, it would look nicer at a lower angle.
Here is another crop I hope taking on board your suggestions. I think it's right. Also, my settings for the canon were ISO 320, Focal Length 400mm, f5.6, 1/1250 SS, Manual Mode.
Simon, lower angle helps in many ways. It creates a more 'in their world' feel to the image...like how a duck sees another duck rather than how people see them.....which makes the image more appealing. It also increases the distance between the bird and the BG giving you a much more pleasing BG blur. However, there are some aspects like FG blur, opposite shoreline intersecting with the head that one needs to carefully study. There is not one 'correct low angle'. Based on the species and the situation, one has to make the right judgement. But, of course, going very low is not always possible.