Northern Pintail

What technical feedback would you like if any? Any/All

What artistic feedback would you like if any? Any/All

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

I got this guy taking off out at the Merced NWR using my D500, Nikon 2-500 lens, Nikon 1.4 TC, hand held, 1/3200th, f/8.0, ISO 2800, 700mm, cropped to 2926 x 2059, AI Clear

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This is quite a view of the pintail’s back and wing. Bird looks good and sharp, and the BG is very nice. The shot would be a lot stronger if the bird were angled toward us and fully lit.

Sweet shot!
I like the angle - it’s not often that we can catch the back and top of a flying duck.
Tack-sharp throughout and nice BG.
Just a couple blips along the right edge, at the height of the lower wing that could be smoothed over.
Terrific!
Sandy

Hi Dave, nice details on the duck and it pops well against the background. A real beauty. I agree with Lyle on the angle of the bird - angled away from the viewer is rarely ideal. Still a nice capture. I also see the clean up needed on the right edge that Sandy refers to.

Nice crisp focus on the Pintail, Dave. While flying toward one may be ideal, they often don’t cooperate. Watch the wind direction. They take-off and land against the wind, but often change as soon as they get a bit of altitude. The ideal is to have a small enough pond that you can set up and wait for someone on the other side to spook them toward you.

To my eye, the sharpening looks just a bit too aggressive creating some very small fringes around parts of the duck…