Wood Duck in Flight

[Raymond Barlow]

LaSalle Marina, Burlington Ontario, Canada

Nikon D300 ,Nikkor 200-400mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR


1/1000s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso320
Hand held, no flash, 80% of FF, basic PS, levels, sharpening

I spent an afternoon shooting with some friends at LaSalle Marina, with the highlight of the action being the Male Wood Duck. I had lost sight of the little guy, waiting patiently for him to return to our area. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a duck in the air, incoming, and directly at me while sitting down low on the cold concrete. (20F and wind a howlin!)

After I fired a few frames at it, a smile came over my face when I realized it was our buddy, and fortunately, the D300 got a good lock on the subject in motion. This lens / body combo seems to have been built for each other, and I could not be happier to be out shooting with fine equipment.

take good care, and thanks for looking.

 

[Alfred Forns]

Nailed the little guy Raymond !!! Great bg Very sharp and well exposed Not sure if going to a higher ISO (more ss) would have help with the wing tip !!! One fine flight image Big Congrats !!!

 

[Tony Whitehead]

Cool image Raymond - I agree that the D300 and 200-400 combo is great - a big step up from the D200 for flight shots. I really like the blur to the wingtip. At this res I am having trouble seeing if the head and eye are critcally sharp - there seems good focus on the bases of the wings but the eye highlight and beak look a bit fuzzy to me. I often stop- down 1 stop with flight shots to give a bit more latitude with DOF as the backgrounds are often quite distant. There is a prominent sharpening halo over the head.

 

[Fabs Forns]

Great flight image!

We've been going for them at Santee Lakes since yesterday, met many BPNers too
The blurred wingtips gives it a sense of motion.

 

[Glenn Bartley]

Really nice Ray. Ive been hoping to get some frames of this species in flight. You have done well here to get a nice BG and wing pose.

 

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Excellent flight image Ray; Love the fight pose and the superb coor and detail.

 

[Chris van Rooyen]

Amazing looking bird, wish we had them here Great flight shot, I like the blurred wingtip. Sharpness is exceptional, I would have liked slightly more shadow detail under the tail (very small nit really)