Peace

This is my submission for Alex's Challenge, "Reflected, Refracted, Diffracted" [link]

I was lucky enough to find this beautiful white duck (I think she is a mallard but I have never seen a pure white one?) on a stretch of the River Test a 10 minute walk from my house. I have spent 2 or 3 hours watching and photographing her and her chicks (she has 3). I have been sitting and lying down on the wet river bank most of that time...

The last visit I made I was lucky enough to have turned up when she was putting her chicks onto the bank for a sleep. This gave her some time to clean and preen whilst racing up and down the river flapping and splashing about. She seemed positively ecstatic to have some time to herself just like most parents!!

I managed to catch 3 or 4 shots of her with wings open which were sharp - this is by far the best.

I am very happy with the capture the framing and the tack-sharp eye and head of my subject.

Unfortunately the background was quite messy since the duck was right against the river bank and my lens could not blur it successfully. And it was strongly lit. I decided to use photoshop and layermasks to try to rectify this. I have done my best to darken and blur the background in a subtle and realistic way - I will let Alex's the "layer-mask master" to be the judge of my work.....