bird and water- detail photos

for your enjoyment, here's a few more mallard pics, along with some close-ups of the same photos... 

isn't this just so cool?!? You can actually see the shadows of the water droplets on the feathers!! I can't take any credit for this at all... it's all the camera. 

I know 'real' photographers can get stuff that's so much better than this, too... I'm not sure yet whether I want to learn 'really' how to do that, or not. I think I'm getting better at composing a good shot in the viewfinder, but there's so much about how to compose a shot and how to use the settings on a camera that still I don't know yet, and very possibly, trying to learn all that would make me frustrated with the whole thing.

I like the 'swoosh' of the water behind his tail here and how it echoes the shape of his curled tail feathers! (Dad, do the curly tail feathers mean anything about how old or how well-fed the duck is?? I can't remember if you ever told me that, or if I ever learned it anywhere.) 

I like how the wing feathers are lifted up a bit by the whoosh of air in this photo, since his wings are pushing down against the air underneath.

It's all in the details! (I do take photos of more than just mallards, though... more different birds next time!)