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First Wood Duck
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First Wood Duck

by Dennis Plank

Gallery: AvianPosted May 2, 201397 views8 comments
And no competition for Craig. I haven't done much in the way of waterfowl, but toward the end of my visit to Ridgefield last week, I spotted two males swimming in a small inlet and couldn't pass up the opportunity, despite the light getting fairly harsh. I completely lost the darker areas in most of the images, but this one was in sufficiently subdued light to let me bring the colors out a little better.

7D, 500mm f4 ISL + 1.4TC, bean bag on car window, f5.6, 1/2000, Av mode with -1/3 compensation, iso 400. Some work in ACR to bring out the darker areas, then processed in CS6. Cropped to 11.8MP to avoid some messy vegetation reflections in the water.

Your comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for looking,

Comments

8 comments
Comment posted by Craig Strand on May 2, 2013 at 8:02 PM
This guy looks good Dennis, I was out yesterday as well and all the woody's were in the shadow area's. I wish you were there today as their were 3 pair resting on logs in the sun, without tall grass and tree limbs to block the shot. I suspect the pair can be found together for another week or maybe two before the hens head to their nest. Some year, I would love to stumble onto a hen and her brood for a nice group shot, but when they see you the hens are like rockets moving the kids to another site.
Good job on this, sometimes I like the darker water color over those over exposed bright ones.
Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments
Comment posted by Howard Cheek on May 2, 2013 at 8:19 PM
Just looking at Craig's post, I realized that I've had only one encounter with the bird.
The shooting conditions were similar to yours, and the results disappointing.
Anyway, I think the darker areas look good when viewed large, nice job on this Dennis :toast:
Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments
Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on May 3, 2013 at 1:19 AM
Good work on the darker areas. Can you tease out a little detail in the whites? Always a challenge. The green reflection works very well. Nice work on one of the toughest ducks to expose.
Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments
Comment posted by Claude Dagenais on May 3, 2013 at 6:50 AM
A good first Dennis, you pulled out the colors very well and the shot is sharp. Well done. :toast:
Registered on April 10, 2013, 56 Posts, 571 Comments
Comment posted by Ray Whitt on May 3, 2013 at 7:45 AM
Love the colors and the deep green water, excellent catch.

Ray
Registered on May 27, 2011, 92 Posts, 2619 Comments
Comment posted by Bill Kellermeyer on May 4, 2013 at 9:03 AM
The colors,detail and background very nice. Love the detail on the beak.
Registered on March 19, 2013, 52 Posts, 161 Comments
Comment posted by Rick Turner on May 4, 2013 at 10:12 AM
The male looks good in sunlight even though the tonal ranges are a bit hard to deal with. :wavey:
One wary species.
Registered on February 18, 2012, 534 Posts, 2755 Comments
Comment posted by Martin Dunn on May 4, 2013 at 10:30 AM
Nice duck Dennis. Wonderfully clear markings. The whol eimage gels well with nice rich background (water) and reasonably soft lighting. :toast:
Registered on February 20, 2013, 198 Posts, 1011 Comments