Wood Duck, Wings Up

[Melissa Groo]

Canon 1D4
500m
Gitzo/Wimberley
crouched low at water's edge

ISO 400
1/1250 sec
f/5.0

Taken during wood duck workshop with Matthew Studebaker in Oct at Chagrin ponds, Ohio. I liked the wing flap, the water splashes, and the tail position. And the low angle. Thanks to Matthew for constantly stressing the importance of this.
Some might wish for a better head angle but I thought since body slightly turned toward us, head directed straight ahead was ok.
I lightened some dark patches in the background. Crop of maybe 30%. Sharpening. Some recovery in whites.
I greatly appreciate all C and C. Thanks for looking.

[Randy Stout]

Melissa:

Tremendous shooting angle, not easy to get at that location at times. Where exactly were you shooting from? Off the far end of the boardwalk on the grass?

I like the flying water and the big drop on top of his head. Excellent display of his color palette. Whites generally look good, maybe a smidge hot on the tips of the secondaries.

Interesting color on the tips of the primaries, not sure I have seen that quite like that before.

The head angle works pretty well here, saved by the birds slight turn towards us as you mentioned.

I might smooth out the two roundish marks at the top of the frame, above his tail.

You sure got a lot of wonderful shots in Cleveland.

Cheers

Randy

[Gary Hamilton]

Great effort to get this angle and beautiful pose. Lots of neat colors on display here. The water drops really add to this image. Well done.

Based on all of the great wood duck images posted recently, I think I should get my butt to Ohio next October (if I'm not in Costa Rica).

[gail bisson]

Excellent shot melissa. I like the pose of the wood duck and am happy with head position. I love the water droplets and the beautiful gold BG. I have seen wood ducks before but have never seen the green irridescent color on the wingtips. very neat.
Well done,
Gail

[dankearl]

This is really nice. The visible tail is pretty cool, he is really sitting up.
I have seen all kind of colors in the right light, you were lucky getting the wing tips
at just the right angle.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Melissa....one heck of a shot. One of the best woodie flaps I've seen. Its the low angle and the perfect bird angle....makes a world of difference. HA is perfect IMO for this shot. colors, exp, wing position....awesome. loved that one drop on the head. If the BG above is as good, I'd like to include more of than and trade some from bottom. Killer shot.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Phenomenal image Melissa. Easily one of the best Wood duck drake images I've seen. Congrats!

[Josh Clark]

Teriffic shot Melissa! The low angle really makes it on this one.

[Bill Dix]

Way too cool! Love the pose, colors, exp, and beautiful BG. You've gotten some great images from the workshop.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Excellent image Melissa!! Nothing wrong with the head angle, and one of the first things I noticed was the blue tips to the primaries...I see others appreciated that detail too. I like KD's comp suggestion.

[Melissa Groo]

Melissa:

Tremendous shooting angle, not easy to get at that location at times. Where exactly were you shooting from? Off the far end of the boardwalk on the grass?

I like the flying water and the big drop on top of his head. Excellent display of his color palette. Whites generally look good, maybe a smidge hot on the tips of the secondaries.

Interesting color on the tips of the primaries, not sure I have seen that quite like that before.

The head angle works pretty well here, saved by the birds slight turn towards us as you mentioned.

I might smooth out the two roundish marks at the top of the frame, above his tail.

You sure got a lot of wonderful shots in Cleveland.

Cheers

Randy

Thanks much for your feedback, Randy. This was in that same area where I got that other last one I posted, the morning after you left. It was to the left (past the building), and I was crouched next to Matthew on the incline to the right of the deck there. Let me know if that's not clear. Thanks for pointing out those two roundish marks, I missed them, they were created by my brushing or cloning to get a lighter area.

[Melissa Groo]

Melissa....one heck of a shot. One of the best woodie flaps I've seen. Its the low angle and the perfect bird angle....makes a world of difference. HA is perfect IMO for this shot. colors, exp, wing position....awesome. loved that one drop on the head. If the BG above is as good, I'd like to include more of than and trade some from bottom. Killer shot.

Thanks so much Kaustubh. Good tip, and will try that crop on the original to see how it looks.

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks kindly to all for your comments.

[Mike Landwehr]

A truly beautiful image, Melissa! I love the water drops, and the blue tips on the primaries, the gorgeous background, and the perfect low perspective. Best wood duck image I can recall seeing. So sharp!

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot. Great wing flap action, love the water drops, excellent shooting angle, and real nice colors.
Well done.

[James Salywoda]

gorgeous shot!

[Dumay de Boulle]

WOW!!! Thats a spectacular image love the colors and pose. Light is truly magnificent

[Ofer Levy]

A wonderful image!!!

[Wynand van Wyk]

O, wow! I absolutely love this image! Super pose and light. Great coloured background and detail!

Amazing shot! Well done.

[Sandesh R.Dhareshwar]

Everything about this image is just perfect

[Christopher Ciccone]

I have to echo everyone's comments here - this is a superb photograph. The BG colors compliment and set off the palette of the bid beautifully! The fine feather detail in the head is tack-sharp and actually draws my eye more than his eye does. I also love that this pose shows even more color than one typically sees (specifically the nice blues in the primary and secondary feathers). Absolutely brilliant photo.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Really Awesome Melissa!

[arash_hazeghi]

This one is right on money, the dynamic pose and low angle with sweet light and good details have been combined to create an A+ photo of this specie! congrats Melissa!

[vishaljadhav]

Wonderful one, the low angle works fantastically and the action and colors make it stand out
The drop on the head makes it very special, love it

[Sachin Saraf]

Brilliant Capture!!! Rest all is said by everyone else...

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Melissa, I feel this is your best to date of your series. I really like the light and colours, sharpness and flying droplets, and the low perspective works so well. The droplet balancing on the head puts this over the top. Comp wise, I would maybe like to see more space on the right, to take the duck of fa central position. Still an awesome capture.

[Geir Jensen]

A killer images

[Gary Esman]

Fantastic shot here Melissa! Everything has been said. Very very nice, a huge congrats. My favorite of yours from Cleveland.

Gary.

[Melissa Groo]

Thank you very much to all for the feedback and encouragement.

[Sid Garige]

One of the best duck image I have seen Melissa.

[Angad Achappa]

Everyone has already said everything!! Just one question, did you use the patch/clone tool on the upper part of the BG a little left to the ducks head on top?

[MohsenVahedipour]

What a nice pose, shooting angle, perfect DOF, great timing & lovely colors. Everything is wonderful in this frame. TFS

[Melissa Groo]

Everyone has already said everything!! Just one question, did you use the patch/clone tool on the upper part of the BG a little left to the ducks head on top?

i sure did, good eye! Need to fix that, thanks!

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Melissa!