This duck was idling right next to duck #1 (the one that was sleeping), which I posted a little earlier. The interlace of light on the feathers is especially beautiful—and again I have no idea what type of duck this is.
As with #1, I was very careful to capture just the right exposure with the camera and lens (again, the Canon 85mm). The light was filtered through trees, so I could not use fast exposures—I needed ducks sitting quite or I would wind up with (did wind up with some) blurred images.
The Canon lens is not reliable for autofocus, so I had to focus it manually—another reason why I like stable subjects with that lens. It’s fussy, yes, but it does such a good job with capturing light and color that I am more than happy to put up with its idiosyncrasies.
(It will autofocus if there is good contrast in the image; this is not that.)