Green-winged Teal

What technical feedback would you like if any?

To me the bird looks level, but the water patterns create, at least for me, an illusion that the image is not straight. Thoughts?
Taken at a high ISO and NR applied in PS/Camera Raw-okay, too much, too little?

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

How big an issue is the light area in the water?

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

Canon 7DII; Sigma 150-600 at 600 mm; 1/800; f6.3; ISO 2500.

Thanks for your input.

Allen, this is a beautiful duck. Love his colors. I have run into that before too, where the patterns in the water makes it feel tilted, but like you said, the duck looks straight, so I think it is good the way you have it. As for the noise, it isn’t too bad. I see it quite a bit in the large version, which on your image seems to be larger that most, so it may be allowing me to see more noise than I should. I just love the way that bright spot in the water was just right for his head reflection. The greens of the water compliment the browns and greens on the ducks head. Nice shot.

Thanks, @Shirley_Freeman, I always appreciate your input.

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I like this, Allen. Excellent detail in the Teal and that bright patch of water with the head reflection in it works much better than I would have guessed.

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Lovely Teal. Not easy to get close enough I know.
Wish you were on the other side of the teal though
You can decrease the whites and the highlights in the brighter water as well increase the shadows with contrast on the bird itself
Hope this helps

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Allen:

Pretty nice image of the teal. I know exactly what you mean about the water patterns. I think it looks fine as far as being level.

ISO: Not too bad in the larger version. Looks like a nice compromise with noise, yet retaining detail.

Bright water: I find that to be a pretty significant distraction. Very tough to deal with in post, but it definitely distracts from the subject.

I find the crop to be too tight. The teal feels particularly cramped on the left, but I would opt for far more space in the entire frame.

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Hi Allen
I think the bird looks great and the angle he is swimming at adds great detail to your framing.
Peter

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I like the matching water color on the top which is similar to the crown of the teal. My first thought before reading your post was that it needed some clockwise rotation and with those ripples and reflection I have a hard time seeing how it doesn’t. On close inspection of the large version it is a bit noisy, perhaps you could have gotten away with a bit lower shutter speed and iso here.

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