Iridescent

[dankearl]

1/320
f6.3
iso400
420mm (300f2.8 w/ 1.4 TC)
sb600 flash fill

DSC_1852wd.jpg

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Lovely colors, gorgeous setting and nice head turn.
Whites look hot on my monitor. I can imagine this being a very tricky bird to expose.

[arash_hazeghi]

great pose and low angle I also like the reflection and BG colors, nice details too. The whites do look like blown. TFS

[DanieBenade]

Awesome colours, nice low angle angle.

[Randy Stout]

Dan:

A good looking drake, good shooting angle, pleasant water.

Flash with woodies is always a challenge. I use it a lot on mine, but usually at very low settings, as it can be hard to avoid the 'flashed' look otherwise.

I do agree about the whites on the neck, and would consider doing a multiply layer on the whites to try and tone them down a bit.

I would also clean up the catchlight, simplify it a bit. The eye would look sharper.

Cheers

Randy

[Ishmeet Sahni]

I like the shooting angle. The whites are a little blown, but a very nice image.....

[gail bisson]

This is a hard bird to shoot and not blow the whites. Great low angle, nice body position. Love the silky feel of the water and the color. Catchlight in the eye looks wonky. Why did you use flash?
Gail

[dankearl]

Thanks for the comments, I will work on the eye and the whites, I toned them a bit, but not enough.
Gail, I used flash because in the low light I had, I could only get maybe 1/100 with f6.3 and I really don't
like to use more than iso400.
I just like the IQ of low iso and am not good enough and have a good enough camera to go higher.
It does make whites hard to get right with flash, but I prefer the sharpness of a higher SS.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Beautiful water and duck. I like the composition. Ithought the plumage looked too purple, so I trweaked the magenta channel in "Selective Color" to give the breast a more natural "chestnut" colouring. WWhile at it I fixed the catchlight too (cloned out the secondary catchlight).

[dankearl]

Thanks Daniel, I was just replying when I got your post.
Nice job on the eye and the colors.
I appreciate it.

[Robert Holguin]

Real nice shot. Great low angle, wonderful colors, and I really like the repost.
Well done.