Wood Duck

[Ronald Zigler]

Canon 60D, 300mm f4 + 1.4x, HH, @ 1/640, f5.6, ISO 1000.

[Wendy Kates]

Beautiful...the colors are really vibrant, especially the "magenta".

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Ron, good job on the exposure - this is a tough situation with the direct light. Was it an overcast day? The composition here has the water line right in the vertical center and I would suggest cropping from the bottom. Not saying it's a rule, but most people I think prefer to see more space on the top than the bottom. All the bright highlights on the water really compete for the eye's attention. These specular highlights are often present in mid-morning light. Does it need a slight CCW rotation? I'm not sure...

[Ronald Zigler]

Thanks Kerry. Yes, it was an overcast day, which at least eliminated harsh shadows. I have been a bit uncertain about the crop too. I thought I wanted to preserve the reflection in the water, but I was not sure how to keep the subject from appearing too centered. I wish the water was more attractive.

[Kerry Perkins]

Ron, since the reflection isn't really that strong (lots of distortion from the choppy water), you could crop quite a bit from the bottom and make a pano image that would work very well. You could crop from the bottom until the head in the reflection is gone.

[Ronald Zigler]

Thanks for the suggestions Kerry. You were right about the tilt of the image. I had not noticed it till you pointed it out, so I straightened the image a bit. I am not sure if I got the crop right this time, but I think it looks better. I could not bring myself to crop that much more from the bottom.