My local Wood Duck....

What a challenge it is to get pictures of this guy! He hangs out in the pond near my house waiting on a mate I suspect. He hides low in the weeds and everytime he sees my truck he hauls butt deeper into them!! I have to walk around the pond where he is hiding, sometimes he is buried deep in the bush. Finally I will locate him, flush him out and he swims hard out towards the middle of the pond. Usually 3 dips in the water and then his theatrical wing flap. I really think they have cool looking eyes.

This one taken in late afternoon....Throwing a little water in the air!!



These 2 in the middle of the day.....

No.1 gets my vote. You are one heck of a nature photographer. I truly envy your talent.

Very nice, Eric. Wood ducks, because of their sharply contrasting black and white markings, make challenging exposure subjects in good light; you did quite well in mid-day harsh light.

The light and background make the first image quite strong; the look back from the duck in the second, though, is also very appealing. The third is pretty contrasty because of the harsh light; a little work with shadows and highlights might tame this a bit.

Nice work!

Don Cohen said:

Very nice, Eric. Wood ducks, because of their sharply contrasting black and white markings, make challenging exposure subjects in good light; you did quite well in mid-day harsh light.

The light and background make the first image quite strong; the look back from the duck in the second, though, is also very appealing. The third is pretty contrasty because of the harsh light; a little work with shadows and highlights might tame this a bit.

Nice work!

Click to expand...

Thanks Don...I always value your opinions. Now that I look at the 3rd one harder I agree with you. I have been shooting all my photos in raw lately> I will need to work harder on my PP.
Thanks again!

Eric,

This duck has remarkable color. I wonder how you are processing the file. Here it would seem that working in RAW and making a number of separate derivatives for highlights and shadows would be a great idea. This is one of the richest pictures ever. I'd even think that the water should be processed sparately.

Asher