Mallard Morph

Image Critiques Everything Else Critiques
1

Dan Kearl, David Schoen and I spent yesterday shooting at a couple of Dan’s favorite ponds. The Mallards there, while technically wild, get fed by everyone and tend to hang around all year. In those situations, some really strange variations start to appear. I don’t know if it’s inbreeding or something else, but it’s definitely due to living in a human managed environment, hence posting this image here.

Whatever the cause, this is one utterly gorgeous Mallard.

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What technical feedback would you like if any?

Anything you note.

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

I brought up the darks with a TK luminosity layer and a curves adjustment-do you think I went too far?

Any pertinent technical details:

7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 238 mm, hand held, f/8, 1/125, iso 800, aperture priority, spot metering, -1 2/3 EV. Processed in LR & PS CC. Straightened and cropped to 16.6 MP. Taken yesterday at 12:27 pm under slightly hazy skies.

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2

Mallards and Woodies are especially known for mating with any other duck, and some interesting and intriguing hybrids appear, but they are often infertile. However, The cross-breeding is not without potential and actual harm - more in this interesting article:
https://www.ducks.org/Conservation/Waterfowl-Research-Science/Waterfowl-Hybrids

Dennis, a very pretty duck with nice detail. I have no idea what combination it is.
Sandy

3

Really nice color, water, and pose. If I were going to do anything with this image I might actually lighten up the greens a tiny bit in the dark area and increase the saturation on the purple to make it really pop.