Hey! Lots of Icelandic folks around here lately.
I think the biggest problem with this shot is the flash burn. It's really obvious that you used a flash, and it just looks very unprofessional and too much like a snapshot. The duck also has red-eye.
Taking night shots of moving subjects is pretty near impossible unless you have some real lights set up to make it look more natural. Some cameras will allow you to adjust the flash output so that it isn't as strong and doesn't "burn" the subject. They just look too washed out in this shot. Other than the overexposure of the ducks, the water should also be darker which can be adjusted with levels in post processing.
Next time I'd suggest showing your shot to a few ppl to get some feedback before posting. Just be sure to do it early enough so that you'll have time to reshoot. The subjects and composition aren't that bad if you had taken it in the evening with better light.
Thanks for all your comments! I know this isn't the greatest photograph but I was eager to get going on DPC and submit my first photo! It's a strange crop and the light is pretty harsh. I made the mistake (due to my small memory card!) to go for lower resolution which made my cropping option somewhat limited.
I gave this shot a 6 originally. I think it looks like you fired a flash to capture the action. I like the action but dislike the color effects of the flash. I like the idea - the execution is something you know now you can work on. Maybe seeking out shot like this a few hours before sunset would give you the right amount of natural light to not fire the flash.
i didn't vote in this challenge on all the shots (including this one) but if you had just cropped into the one that was flying so it was flying in an all black background, you would have had a very dramatic submission (although maybe you already cropped in as much as you could).
It appears that your light source has overexposed the foreground and has given the duck redeye. The only suggestion I could make for this would be to reduce the power of the light source or back away. Due to the subject matter, a longer exposure with no extra light source is not an option.
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