Hooded Merganser (Male)

Your thoughts welcome

Excellent capture Christopher. These are such unusual looking birds, yet I find them so 'cute'.  Well done!

One word -- EXCELLENT!

Excellent detail in this little duck; the ones I see are very shy, so well done!!

its no surprise to me that you have produced another quality image Chris. Technically very well executed. The reflection adds to the scene but, as always, its your isolation of your subject that provides the greatest impact for me.

Very good catch Chris! Nice low angle.

Clap!!, Clap!!!, Clap!!......Another masterpiece to add to your stunning portfoilio, ciao Giangiorgio

Christopher,

Simply Fantastic!

Regards always,

Jim j.

Excellent!  Love the low angle and background colors.  Nice hairdo too.  

Every time I view another of your photos, I learn something.  Beautiful color, terrific sharpness, nice low angle and eye to eye connects us to the subject.  Extremely well done!

Best regards,

Dennis

WOW o WOW!  This is awesome.  

Hi Chris,

You keep stunning me with your nature photos! I'm amazed of how you can achieve this sublime photos. The colours, the subject isolated, so close, perfectly sharp! 

Keep well!

Yan 

Gorgeous shot, with stunning IQ. A revelation to see the deep umber coloration in his head plumage -- it's always blocked out black in the dreck I produce with very inferior optics (the cheap Nikkor 70-300 VR). Your guy looks like he's taking in a nice sunset here. Cheers!

My favorite duck, have yet to have a decent photo. I always enjoy your work, everything's perfect! Um what's with the D4? :)

Was this done in photoshop cause it looks it.

Absolutely not done in photoshop 

Definitely a 7/7 for me.  Great colors, composition, light and definition.  Guess  I missed this one before.

"..done in Photoshop..?"   How silly! Come on "Anonymous" have you never seen a duck on quite water at sunset/sunrise?

If you had any credibility and hadn't chosen to hide behind a name that has no email (seriously, hiding from folks on Pnet? Are we talking serious conspiracy theory here?..) I could give you a short tutorial on how to shoot this kind of shot. 

For starters it takes the right equipment, the right situation, skill and a lot of luck with a ton of patience.

 Nate, as I understand it, Chris went through a "dark phase" but is now back among us Royal Canoneers...:-)

Christopher, sorry if you took my comment with poor regard.  I didn't know how you could get such nice colors and appeal. To Steven, the anonymous critique is allowed on pn.  Not everyone uses it for the reasons you assume. If you have a problem with that please contact the pn staff otherwise keep your insulting comments inside your head not on these boards.