Yesterday morning I rode my bike in the dark to get a sunrise and to get out before the heat. I was taking pictures and then saw this duck looking at me. I thought she looked pretty in the sun.
Anything
Is this a composite: No
Nikon D3400
300mm
1/1000
f/6.3
ISO 1600
Crop and slight adjustments
What a beauty of a duck. That neck stretch shows how curious she was. Itās a little noisy and not 100% dead on focus, but the light is pretty marvelous. Good on you for getting up (and biking) so early! Iām a really lazy photographer most of the time these days.
Thanks @Kris_Smith, yeah I saw how noisy it was too. 
Iām torn about the āyou need to shoot inā goodā light theory. Since I donāt have a tripod and Iām always having to be in awkward positions (like this one in a ditch shooting through a fence) I canāt always have the slow SS needed when Iām shooting an animal and my camera is awful with a high ISO as in this example. It is cropped probably 50%,to take out bg parts of other birds.
So now you have some choices - either just accept that some images will be noisy and let it go or use a tripod regularly. Another solution is to change the way you process photos and move to a regular computer instead of an iPad. This will allow you more editing options when it comes to software. Right now Iām waiting for another player in the de-noise/sharpen plug in market to release a product before buying one. It aggravates me that Adobe isnāt on par with what the independents are doing, but thatās another conversation.
Moving forward and improving your photography is a commitment in many ways and from what Iāve seen you love doing this and have made great strides in just a few months. Where you want to go from here is all up to you.
@Kris_Smith I guess since I donāt have a tripod or a computer Iāll just accept the noise but also try to work within my cameraās limits.
So long as it still makes you happy, keep at it. Things are never constants in our lives, but keeping what makes us most fulfilled should be one of them.
As one of The Ancients here, who remembers Tri-X, the noise here doesnāt bother me at all.
Iām honestly not that enthusiastic about the lighter (and slightly wilted-looking?) flowers in the FG, but thatās where she was. If there was a chance to follow her movements to a different location, that might have been great.
I thought the little daisies kind of looked cute! But I think vultures look cute too! 
She had been laying in them and then stood up to inspect me! Since there was a fence between us I couldnāt have followed her around. I never heard of a tri-x. Is that a type of camera?
Tri-X is a B/W film from the last century that was favored by many photographers for its awesome āspeedā ā ISO 400!! But it was about as grainy as ISO 64,000 (or more) on the average digital camera today. And the dynamic range is bested by the average smart phone camera.
Awesome! I think the old black and white photos look good. They have a style about them.
Diane - do you remember the Tri-X to T-Max grain controversy?! OMG you would have thought the world was ending!! I had photographers come in to the shop where I worked and literally buy every roll we had so they wouldnāt have to use the dreaded T-Max anytime soon. And some of us horded it away and sold it on the black market.
Well, not really. Who me???
But seriously, people loved Tri-X grain. They shot for it and with it and it became a part of how the image spoke to us.
Techs aside, this is a fun look at this girl. She is wondering what you are all about! Btw, I am not getting on a bike before dawn to go somewhere and shoot photos. Shoot, I wonāt even walk to the base of a waterfallā¦ 
Haha! @terryb I go crazy if I canāt get out and move! And Iāve had to do it early these last few days because of the heatwave! Yesterday it got up to 107! Real feel was 113 because of the humidity! Itās crazy! Happy if it doesnāt get above 80 inside and thatās with the ac blasting! Yuck!
Yeah, I thought the duck looked so cute! Iām glad you like her!
