Female Pintail at Dawn & Repost

[Dennis_Plank]

Another from Thursday’s trip. This was the first bird I photographed that morning and the sun hadn’t made it over the hills yet. The clouds were lit up very nicely the last few miles of my trip to the refuge, but they were much more subdued by the time I got there, but I still liked the hint of color in the water.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

Anything

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Anything

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

Sony a6500, FE200-600 @ 600 mm, beanbag on car window, f/8, 1/400, iso 2000, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. I underexposed this about 2/3 of a stop which I compensated for in post processing and also brought the relative brightness of the duck up and did some local adjustments as well. Other than that just a couple of dust bunnies removed and straightening the image a little. Cropped size 5864x3856. Taken December 3rd at 7:51 am (official sunrise was about 7:40, but there’s a hill in the way).

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[Allen_Brooks]

I like the colors and patterns of the sky reflected in the water. Maybe a little brighter on the duck? Overall composition is very pleasing.

[David_Schoen]

Light is superb. I also think the head plumage could be a little brighter by half to one stop. I am enjoying the overall composition.

[Hans_Overduin]

Subtle is what comes to mind here, both in the duck’s plumage as in the water ripples and colours. Another great image, Dennis. Cheers, Hans

[David_Leroy]

Lovely soft light, soft colors and nice smooth ripples in the water. It looks like a lovely morning.

[Dennis_Plank]

Thanks, everyone. I went back and reprocessed this using different relative exposures between the water and the duck. Note that the duck was backlit, so it was pretty dark in the original and I didn’t want to push it too far.