Female Mallard - Bath Time with repost

I have bowed to those with better knowledge Gadwall now Mallard. My excuse she was with male Gadwall..........

1Dmk4, EF500 + 1.4x, iso400, 1/1000th sec, f8, handheld, cropped. WDYT

Sorry Peter, doesn't really work for me. I find the position of 'the duck' within the crop rather awkward. Would have gone for a higher SS to freeze the action and would probably have given a sharper image too, especially with the MKIV. Curious, why f/8?

BTW Is this Captive or Wild, based on the action looks wild to me.

Steve, Thanks for the reply, it is wild and I will get you to say something nice about one of my images one day

Freezing the action totally would lose the sense of movement that I feel you need with an image like this...

Peter

I believe this is a female Mallard, looking at the orange on the bill and the buff patch on the throat,

Nice shot, action well captured. These shots are always worth a go.

I think I know what your trying to achieve here Pete, but I think ultimately the sharpeness and clarity has suffered from being handheld at 700mm.



Calum

Not where I'd be myself with regards to shutter speed. I think if you're looking for expression of movement you've got to be down near the 1/125th mark to really get the action going some.
Looks like you've been caught between and betwixt with regard to shutter speed here and have landed up in no mans land. Too slow to be pin sharp and too fast to show enough action and movement.

Personally the crop doesn't bother me at all. My first though when looking at the pic though was that it was a female mallard, but as I've never seen a gadwall I'll leave the identity to those who know better

I like this picture as it is nearly identical to some I took at my local duck pond the other day. Definately a female Mallard though!

I can only echo what John McT has written. I do find the crop a bit awkward as well I must admit.I would have thought it nigh on impossible to get a really sharp shot from 700mm of lens even at 1/1000 and with IS. There is loads of potential with duck-bathing shots especially if you can get some backlight involved, so it may be worth a revisit with the tripod.
eric

Here is a second image which I had posted elsewhere, hence posting a different image here.....

WDYT of this one.... I appreciate all the comments so far

The second is a much better image in my opinion Pete. The unsharp head of the first shot spoiled it for me but this one is great. With all those water droplets flying about, it's great to still be able to see a sharp eye.

Shutter speed isn't an issue for me, but positioning is - I think the problem with your first shot is that the subject is looking out of frame rather than across the frame - the head is too far left which draws your eye left leaving a large empty space to the RHS.

Basic rule of thirds - head is in wrong third for where it is looking.

Hi Peter, the second shot is a cracker.

The first image doesnt do it for me, Mainly as i personally dont like square crops, The 2nd image is much better-certainly sharper and the water droplets at the front add nicely to the image, I thought it was a mallard the first time i viewed this

Dave

Really like the second one Peter.Well done.

Phil.

The second image is a cracker, with a much better composition imo.
It's a thin line between success and failure isn't it?
eric

the second one for me to Pete it is sharper in the eye and just sits better in the frame

Two nice images in my opinion!!
Regards,
Paul.