Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Common goldeneye mom fleeing a fight with another goldeneye mom on the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park. I’ve never seen ducks fight like that… We caught them at it two days in a row, very violent. They both had broods of 10+ ducklings.
Fujifilm X-T3, 1/2000s, f/7.1, ISO 1600, 400mm
Nice catch. The panic flapping they do is fun to watch and this captures the frenzy of their escapes pretty well. I like the position of the wings to allow us to see the body with the funny little foot. The head and eye look reasonably crisp. Were you in electronic shutter?
Thank you! I was ‘panic shooting’ as we only caught the end of this one. I was in mechanical shutter (it’s set to M+E, switches to electronic shutter at 1/8000s).
Beautiful image, Debbie. The angle of the Goldeneye to you was excellent and you caught a great moment. I’m a bit ambivalent about the look of the splash, it’s almost too crunchy like you might have over sharpened it a bit (or one of those pesky AI noise reduction programs might have done so).
What a pleasing image. I am totally captivated by it. The action pose, the spatters, the dark background. I sure wouldn’t change a thing. This looks like a wall-hanger to me.
This is an excellent capture of the action and the dark water that surrounds the bird makes a perfect vignette. This photo deserves a place on your wall.
Thank you so much @Dave_Douglass and @Richard_Sandor I really appreciate your comments.
@Dennis_Plank I actually didn’t do anything to the splash directly behind the duck except up the highlights and whites slightly, it was crunchy out of the camera 
Great action image, Debbie. Nice you got the golden eye coming towards you. I also like that you got more or less the full splash at the top. The water droplets and splash add a lot of dynamism to the image. Congrats on the WP
Thank you @S_Govindarajan. Is it better to try and include all of something like a splash? And what is WP?
I am not sure if there is a general rule, but it usually helps to have enough to show the scale of the splash. It certainly helps in this case. WP = weekly pick (a term used in the old site for editor’s pick).
Congrats on well deserved weekly pick. I like that you were able to capture this with the bird coming somewhat at you. Good detail and pose and the water action is great. Good all around timing on the shot.
Hi Debbie
Congratulations on the Editor’s Pick.
Peter
