The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Am I the only one who sometimes gets bored with the tyranny of the 4-sided image? Probably. But when I saw the ripples and the Falcated Duck’s rotund shape (taken high above from a bridge), I felt this cried out for a different frame. (“Falcated” refers to the sickle-shaped tail feathers).
Specific Feedback
I could have used a vignette, I suppose, but preferred this version. Should I have gone the whole hog and given it an oval frame too?
Technical Details
D500 + 150-600mm (@600mm) 1/500 f10 ISO 1000
Tonal adjustments in LR (face lightened, water darkened a bit). Topaz Sharpen. In PS, cropped to feature duck and ripples fairly symmetrically with Elliptical Marquee Tool; then added frame line with Pen Tool.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Hi Mike, I love seeing these colors on the duck’s head and the interesting body pattern. A real beauty. I also like the water surrounding the duck including the small circles on the right of the duck. I’m good with the unique framing - an interesting take on this scene. We can’t always get at eye level with our subject and I think this shows off the duck well.
Not the only one, Mike. I often wish we could post in psd format so we could do odd shaped frames. The first generation of the Kodak (and some other odd cameras) took circular images. Kodak did it because their lenses were not very good at the time and the corners were badly focused and probably had significant luminosity drop-off (I don’t recall the exact details).
Anyhow I like the way your ellipse works in this image. Excellent detail and exposure in the duck and while the angle is unusual it works nicely here, especially since he(?) tilted his head to give you a nice look at the eye.
Hi Mike
Your framing works great with the high angle of this photograph. The Falcated Duck’s detail and coloring looks great. Add the droplet ringing outward and you have a cool photograph.
Peter
Mike - you’re definitely not the only one! But current limitations are what they are.
I like the look at this ducky, allowing those beautiful tail feathers to show so well. The colours and head-turn are nice, and the concentric circles add a lot of interest.
Very well-done!
This is certainly very interesting - the tail especially, the bonus of the ripples.
I wonder how this would look with black / dark grey instead of white as the background
Thank you @SandyR-B@Dennis_Plank@Peter_Morrissey@Karl_Zuzarte and @Allen_Sparks for your kind comments. It is indeed a male, Dennis. I think Karl’s suggestion really lifts this - as he says, now we get to the subject. Along with the Mandarin Duck, this is my favorite in Korea. But I dearly wish to see a Wood Duck in the US this spring. I read that they are hunted a lot, so maybe I should tread carefully!
No duck hunting in the spring, Mike. You should be able to query ebird on sightings in the areas where you’re going. This species does become habituated to us and fairly approachable at some heavily frequented ponds.
@Mike_Friel@Dennis_Plank - Photoshop 2025 has an “Enhanced Frame” tool that allows custom shapes/triangles in cropping. I haven’t tried it, but you both might be interested…
