Icy Green-winged Teal CLose-Up

[Daniel Cadieux]

• Canon EOS R6
• EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x III
• ƒ/14
• 560mm
• 1/320s
• ISO 3200
• Daniel Caxieux
• Sat, 04 February 2023 8:27 AM
• Daniel Cadieux
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 12.0.1 (Windows)

Same individual form that same bone-chilling cold morning (-32C). We can see ice and frost built up on the feathers. My 500mm had been gone to the shop for a well-needed "tune-up" after 10 years of use. The 100-400L II + 1.4TC III combo was up to the task for a few weeks and did not disappoint (for those wondering about IQ with is zoom and TC). A much tamer (or maybe hungrier) than usual individual that surprisingly came out of the water to follow a couple of mallards eating thrown seeds.

Canon R6 + 100-400L II + 1.4TC III @560mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/320s., f/14, ISO 3200, FF, handheld while lying prone on the ice, cleaned up a few specks on the ground, and cleaned up the reflection on the eye as well.

 

[Randy Stout]

Daniel:

That is one cold looking duck! The soft light really makes the eye pop, nice feather detail and color. Since you had the zoom, did you shoot any looser frames?

Randy

 

[Dorian Anderson]

****, that's great. Until today, I've had awful luck with this species over the years; my collection consists of one frame from the 2011, right when I bought my 500 f/4 IS. I suspect this guy wasn't motivated
to move because of the cold as they're usually very skittish. Nothing to nit pick on this one. I would never have guessed this was a zoom lens plus a TC! Details of super crisp!

 

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Dan ... awesome close up of this species in winter scenery .
Love all the fine details and the colors .
The subject appears a bit flat to me ... just my personal pref , nothing wrong with it .

TFS Andreas

 

[Kurt Bowman]

Really sweet portrait! Love all the snow and ice coverage this fella! It doesn't look flat to my eyes, I like this as posted. Great job!

 

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks gang, glad you like it.

Randy, yes, here's one when it was in the water stretching its wings at 346mm:

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/157090-Green-winged-Teal-Maximum-Extension!