American Wigeon

Great work, very nice Ron.
Everyone's got to get up there now & again..the soapbox that is

Ooooo - LOVE the layers of colours here. Excellent, "different" pose, your usual fine detail, an the water drops are tack-sharp and add a lot. Great light too.
I think comments are down generally everywhere, not just in Avain, and reflects the season and people having less time online as they prepare for the holidays.
Sandy

Ron, This is better than any of my Wigeon images. I like the banded bg and the Widgeon is sharp and the pose is great. Great job.

I rarely can find a tip for you on any image. My tip is to keep bringing these great images.I like the bg design witht he different planes. I wish for a forward front wing but this shos he's almost landing and I get that. Light is great and I am glad to see the green head patch.

Sandy, I am sure the holidays has something to do with the current lull, but discussing the lack of commenting with others, it seems the lull has been around for quite a long time, before we were even close to the holidays. People just need to comment more IMO. Otherwise the purpose of NPN goes wanting. It is not just a place to display pretty pictures IMO.

Ron
Well said !!
Its just the same on the UKNP forum. Have a look at the ratios on there.
I cannot understand it.
This is a superb shot by the way - cannot fault it.
JohnR

This is a superb photo in every way IMO - too many ways to point them all out but detail, flight posture, light and composition come to the surface for me.

I agree that the lack of comments in the last few months has gone far beyond a seasonal phenomenon. I simply don't understand how folks can feel comfortable posting and not commenting.

Something's amiss...

Ron D
Again- Well said.
Things have certainly changed. Its not seasonal, I am sure.
JohnR

Lovely shot! The colors are wonderful, and the detail in the head of the Wigeon really stands out to me...
Jaymes

I've noticed the unbelievable drop off in comments as well - seems like it doesn't matter what you post it just does not get comments which is a reason I haven't posted much lately (which only makes the situation worse I suppose).

Beautiful image with incredible detail and awesome action. I love how everything (the wings, the feet the head) are frozen and tack sharp with a great scene in the BG

I have to confess that I had planned on commenting on your previous image. Before I did I spent about 1/2 hour on your website, and well, to tell you the truth I just felt there wasn't much I could say as all of your images blow me away. I guess a person should still comment regardless, and I have been trying to do a lot more lately.

I really like how this and a lot of your flight shots show a hint of the background. They are just OOF enough to not be distracting but still give you an idea of the habitat.
.

Mark, first, thanks for the comments on my images and website. Second, I agree with you. I comment on images even if I feel I cannot provide any information to the photographer that will improve the shot. In those cases I state what I like about the image, what makes it great. I do this because I feel that still gives the photographer information to grow on. Thru comments like that they gain an understanding of what people like in their images and can strive to continue to get those elements in their shots. Again, just how I think about commenting. I really try to stay away from the "good shot" type comment, but I admit I do get lazy some times and state such things.

Wonderful pose and incredible sharpness...I don't know how you do it! Sharon

This is really a great capture Ron. It has so much going for it including the inflight landing pose, ducks head and feather detail, wonderful OOF BG. You should print this, really large, and hang it..... great job!

Great action shot, Ron ! Great pose, terific detail, beautiful BG.The larger version is really awesome

As far as the comments issue, I've been absent from this Gallery for a while, because of lack of birds images...hovewer I notice the same problem in others galleries where I usully post photos (i.e. Flora). It should be useful to investigate and understand why there is a general decrease of comments

Cheers, Mauro.

Another image showing your usual high standards. My first impression here was: Duckstamp. Its the sort of position and detail I see in the best of the stamps that I feel you'd never see in the wild, and yet your capture here shows it is possible to see and even record.

And thanks for speaking publicly about the lack of comments and suggesting the simple remedy of commenting on multiple images whenever you post an image.

You got it right on both the photo and the commenting, Ron. Love the water droplets in the larger version.......perfect timing on the wing spread.

Ron, I was thinking about your issue regarding comments. I see that there are images viewed more than 100 times with less than 10 comments. See my last, controverse, post: 134 vs 8 ! In all the other cases not a single word to say at least I like it or not.
I understand that, many times, you don't have time to express a fully comprehensive comment for all the images posted ( and often you repeat the same things).
Then, there are people, like me, that may have problems with the English language...
So, what about to introduce the possibility to leave - at least - a standard comment, a sort of vote, for example: from 1 to 5, or from poor to good, or I like this one or I dislike ?
Greetings.
Mauro

Another beauty, Ron. I can see him sliding on into a perfect landing from here. Love the water droplets on his chest and the great light. I have to say I've not been very engaged here on NPN for while (work, family, etc. cutting drastically into my photo ops) but I have noticed the decrease in comments as well.

Very nice details - beautiful background too ..

Ron, there's nothing I can say about your images except how beautiful they are. Perfect light, beautiful colors, perfect sharpness and detail. As I've said before, I don't think anybody does it better.

first of all, WOW! this is even better than the last one. the pose is just out of this world, the background is both beautiful and evocative of the habitat, the light is great, the comp perfect, and the sharpness looks great. I think this is one of my favorites of yours.

I'm not sure what's up with comments, but I think it goes beyond just comments. I think overall participation (including me) is way down over the last several months. Just take a look at the front page--it used to be that in Avian, images cycled off the front page about every two days. Right now there's 5 days worth of images, and I think there have been up to 7. So it makes sense that if people aren't posting they probably aren't commenting either. Not sure what it is, but lots of the familiar names and acquaintances from my couple years here haven't been around much (and, again, neither have I).

But I hope I'll be participating more in the coming weeks. I'll have a post tonight or tomorrow and plenty of comments too.

Ron,
Love the photo. The bird is stunning and the background colors are wonderful. Don't know what you might learn from my comments. But your photo is a keeper.

Outstanding image! Love the light and the colors.

Ray

Amazing all around Ron... light, detail, composition & angle... outstanding image!

Spot on as usual.....awesome !

Ron, nice action captured here. The water droplets on the chest & the irridescence of the feathers near the eye make this for me. Nice work!

Ron-your plea is well heard as can be seen by the fairly robust response on this image. I agree that I've noticed a significant drop off in the responses lately- not sure I know why. Fear of offending sensibilities? Shouldn't be a concern with a comment posted in a sincere and constructive fashion.

Outstanding image-love how you captured the wing unloading in the flare and the near straight line from the top of the head to the tip of the wings.

Excellent shot, I like this because of the different flight pose (you do see the wings way back in most flight images), the outstanding detail and background colors, the larger image looks great, way to go.

Superb capture, Ron. I love the pose, the colors, the detail and the water droplets too.