My first decent shot of a Ring necked duck

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

40D. 400f5.6L at f/7.1. iso 320. 1/800s.

I have never had much luck with Ring necked ducks as they always stay far out. When I saw this drake close to the bank, I dropped down in advance and slowly crept towards him. As usual, he swam away but I got a few keepers. All comments welcome.

[Don Lacy]

Another beautiful image Kaustubh, Nice muted colors in the BG and just a hint of purple iridescence in the head and i love the nice low angle.

[Sachin Saraf]

This is beautiful Image Kaustubh...love the purple shade on neck...Nice Head turn and eye contact and Super low angle as always...loved the BG as well.

[Tom Rambaut]

Beautiful, beautiful image. low angle soft light and slight look back with great eye contact. The purple on the neck is killer and BG is lovley too.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot. As always excellent low shooting angle, great head angle, wonderful light, and real nice colors.
Well done.

[Jim Crosswell]

Beautiful image Kaustubh! I like the low angle, HA, IQ and water colours.

[Doug Brown]

Excellent frame Kaustubh. Love the sharpness and the eye contact. It's interesting how different birds can be more or less challenging depending on where you live. Ring-necked Ducks will practically eat out of your hand where I live!

[Joe Senzatimore]

Low angle make this a killer image. detail is over the top as well as color and comp. Just beautiful.

[gail bisson]

Excellent low angle and exposure on the blacks. The eye seems a bit soft or blurry to me but no one else has mentioned this so maybe it is my eyes? I like the bow wave in front of the duck. A lovely shot,
Gail

[Karl Egressy]

Light, pose, angle, water colour and the colours in the bird are all excellent. My only nit is that you cannot see the ring. (Just kidding, you can hardly ever see it.)

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice Kaustubh, love the light and low angle

[dankearl]

Very nice, another on my wish list.
The exposure is perfect.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey KD, I give up. Can I have a pond like yours where you manage to capture these such low angles, and they work every time. Superb exposure on the duck, soft light and pastel colours. Very well captured.

[Mital Patel]

Oh poor KD

Stuart stole my words i was thinking last night when i saw this image on my android. Sorry stuart but i am with you to have pond like KD does. KD would you mind courier it to my place ?

I am mad,,,, by this image.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Beautiful pastel water and great detail on the drake. Looks like you got him just in time.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

It's interesting how different birds can be more or less challenging depending on where you live. Ring-necked Ducks will practically eat out of your hand where I live!

agree. I think there might be spots in DFW area where they are approachable....but they are not at the 3-4 spots I frequent. The other day Daniel and Grace were mentioning that they cannot get close to Lesser Scaups. Out here, they are very approachable. out here in N. Texas, for example, shorebirds are extremely difficult to photograph. So are White Ibis. In Florida, I had a White Ibis steal fries from my plate once :-) A lot depends on where you are.