Mallard in Hailstorm

Hi all! We've just returned from a quick trip to the British Columbia coast in search of owls and waterfowl. Although quite different from our outstanding trip there last February, we had some great photo opportunities and came back with a good selection of new images. 

I haven't had time to process more than a few images from our time there, but I did want to do a quick edit on this frame as it's one of the very first photographed through our new Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6E lens, and I was curious to see the results! This probably wasn't the best choice of files to make judgements from as it was shot at ISO 2800 and has light NR applied, but that just makes me even more pleased with the results. 

I only had about 15mins with the lens out of the week+ of shooting, as it looks like we'll have a hard time prying it out of Josiah's hands, but while he was covering his gear bag during a hailstorm, I grabbed his D7100 and the new lens and followed some approaching mallards in. I was very impressed with the lens' AF acquisition and speed, and was pleasantly surprised to see better-than-80% hit rate when scrolling through the sequences (especially since it was my first few minutes with the lens!). 

On the image itself, this is a modest crop from the original full-frame, and no, there is nothing additional available at the bottom. I was originally going to crop a bit tighter (the file will definitely support it) and have a more traditional comp, but somehow I kind of like this less-orthodox comp even if it breaks the rules a bit in terms of having more space for the drake to fly (down) into. I do have images with more traditional wing positions and higher subject placement, but I liked the "angel wing" feel here with the meeting wing tips and anticipation on this handsome drake's face so decided I'd start with this one.

I certainly look forward to hearing your comments, critiques and suggestions! Please view the larger version for best quality.

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Nikon D7100
Nikkor AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E @ 460mm
ISO 2800
1/1250sec @ f/8
-0.66 stop underexposed from meter
Handheld
Cropped to approximately 70% of original