Finally some Wood Ducks I like

[Mike Anderson]

Feel free to CC these please. I did not do much PP on them other then a crop and some sharpening.

Full size ~ http://trophyfishingtn.com/smf/http://itinerantangler.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=27803#p27803

This Mallard insisted on getting his pic too.

[John Bennett]

Good timing
Im off (hopefully) to go get some Woodies myself this am. Pics looks good. couple general tips.

Try not to center. Hard not to do when they fill most of the frame.
Always focus on the eye. That is to say you want the area of critical focus to be on the eye
when possible reduce the angle.

When shooting wildlife be it birds or four legged stuff, you are in control of so few variables. Maybe Im biased but to me it might be one of the harder genres. You can’t control the light, you can’t control the subjects, rarely do you get “retakes”.. Theres no taking a shot, chimping and asking your friend to move 2 feet left, etc, etc,etc.

So to me anyways one of the most important things you can do is to be prepared “mentally” for all the various “little things”. Stack the odds in your favor beforehand…similiar to pre visualisation.

Remember…critical focus on the eye, reduce angles, leave “room” for movement…lead viewers into the frame, not out of it. Practise switching AF points etc.

And sometimes you remember all those things but you cant control nature and you just accept what it gives you :).

[Mike Anderson]

John that 400l is a sweet lens but man it would be a monster with IS. I’ve got my eye on the 500 F$$$ but it may take awhile to justify that purchase. Good advise thanks. This is much harder then I ever thought it to be.. I’m having a great time learning though.

If you can I’d love to see your wood duck shots.

[John Bennett]

I just got home about 30 mins ago. I have a ton to weed out, then work on some of the better/best. Posted this one on FB, no PP other than a smidgeon of sharpening..it can probably do with a bit more.

Its good, but there are many, that are far better (imo) to come.

Its a decent sample that speak to some of what I relayed.
manual exposure
700mm, ISO 800, f5.6 @ 1/3200 full frame (no crop).

I was in manual/partial metering. Reason being while their side are creamy brown, their back are dark. However ever time they flared to dry their wings, Im going to blow the white under wings and the breast. The breast is still a hair blown, but I was able to quickly “guess” I needed to adjust 2/3s (2 clicks on the dial) once they started to flare.

If your in any other mode you cant switch on the fly like that.
Critical focus is slightly off (fixable with better sharpening) but you can see how I tried to get him off center and my angle in low.

Re the 400.
IS owuld be nice but honstly it’s not needed. I used it for years in low light..plenty of great shots under 1/250th..it just takes practise and that comes with time and acctuations.

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