I made a trip to my favorite local park yesterday hoping to get some better shots of Mallard ducks.  I went to a location where the ducks were close to the water’s edge, and set up so that the reflections of the nearby green, yellow, and orange trees provided some sweet water as a background.  As the sun dipped lower in the sky, the combination of a pretty setting and good light made for some bold shots of the ducks.  I used my strobe with a flash extender attached to bring out the colors of the water and even out the natural light.  Unfortunately, I underestimated how much shutter speed was needed to successfully freeze the motion of the swimming birds, so I lost a lot of shots.  Despite my big error, I do have a handful of images that meet my high standards, and overall I’m quite happy with the results of my shooting session.  Hopefully, I’ll find time to go back in the near future.

This is one of my favorite shots of the day.  Here I photographed a female Mallard dabbling on the surface of the water.  This lady frequently exhibited this behavior and I wanted to capture it.  In order to do so, I tracked her through my lens and watched her, waiting to snap the shutter until she had entered the brilliantly colored green water and her body was lined up parallel to me, making the perfect photo.

Techs: Canon 1D Mark II N, 300mm f/2.8L IS USM + 2x Mark II Extender, 580EX Flash, 1/400s, f/6.3, flash -1 compensation, tripod.  To order this print, purchase stock rights, or view other photos I have for sale, please visit my website at www.karipost.com.