Mallard

The larger version is a must see. Excellent detail. I like the water drops on the mallard. Nice composition with the mallard swimming into the grass.

Very effective comp Rich, and the detail is superb.

Another shot where the play of highlight and shadow makes for very cool lighting IMO. Sharpness and detail are excellent and the setting looks perfect for a duck. I also like the fact that you didn't feel it necessary to include the whole duck in the shot. I do find the bright reflection coming down from the top onto the head a little distracting but it's not a big deal to me.

Very nice close-up composition with the mallard swimming into the grass cover. Love the sharp detail and the water droplets. Nice light with highlights and shadow. The sharp blade of grass closest to the head (pointing at 11 o'clock) a perhaps bit distracting, IMO, especially the sunlit and wilted parts. Also the bright brown blade at the URC. But it's not a big deal.

Wonderful IQ. Looks like the TC20E lll will serve you well.

Wonderful details and a very nice portrait of this mallard near cover. Wonderful light and very pleasant to view! Sharon

Hi Richard Love the intimate mood and fine detail of this capture. The color and light add to the quality of this shot
Albert Darmo
Canada

neat shot, Rich--interesting comp and play of light and shadow. I'd consider slightly darkening the bright shaft of water that comes down to the Mallard's head and see what it looked like, not sure if it would work or not. details look good--enjoy the new gear!

yes the larger version must be seen. great details and the water drops are a plus.

Luca

Very nice sharpness and detail on the bird Rich. I like the comp. For me the reeds on the right make the image.

Interesting composition, something I would have never thought of but it really works well on this image. Detail is very good and the different shades of green on the duck, foliage, and water are very pretty.

Is that a newer TC from Nikon Richard? If so, I am very immersed with the performance of it (in the hands of someone that also knows how to use their equipment well). Really nice detail and love the comp and colors in this...especially all the different shades of green.

Is that a newer TC from Nikon Richard?

- Kurt

Yes, this is the latest 2x from Nikon, and it replaces my original TC20E that I bought new in 1998. There is a TC20E II that is optically identical to the old version but received a cosmetic update including getting the AF-S label instead of the AF-I label of the original. The TC20E III has an aspherical element to improve performance and reduce color fringing.

This afternoon visit to the Water Ranch was explicitly to test the replacement 2x that I had just picked up used from another local photographer 30 minutes earlier. Its not a big jump over the old one but since I rely on a 2x for almost every bird image I take I wanted to make the upgrade. I've got some Great Blue Heron shots taken with it on my blog with more to come soon.

A very interesting composition and good to see something different in that regards. The larger image has some excellent detail around the mallard head and I like the overall setting. Nice job in handling the shadows and bright light contrast, not an easy thing to do at time in the afternoon. Well done Rich.