Getting into the water

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

Getting into the water
Getting into the water1500×1000 221 KB

It is amazing to watch the ducks throughout the afternoon and one activity I noticed with this male mallard duck is dipping under the water doing a 360-degree circle at the surface. I wanted to capture the action of the duck and he completed the circle. He did this a few times over and over.

Type of Critique Requested

  • Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
  • Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
  • Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the image.
  • Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.

Specific Feedback and Self-Critique

I was sitting on the edge of the water with the sun behind me to the left side. I am interested in the lighting when photographing shorebirds.

Technical Details

R6 mark ii; RF 100-500 with 1.4x 700mm 1/2000 f/14 ISO 1600. I did a small contrast curve adjustment and a little bit saturation on the subject only. Used Photo AI to remove any noise only.

2

Dean,

Nothing like a duck bath to make one’s afternoon!

Gorgeous bird. I love the crop and where you positioned him in the frame. It gives him dimension that he is above the horizon line.

Congrats…you gave yourself enough shutter speed to capture those water droplets and the tail waggle. I think you could have even used a lower F stop, maybe F11…and gotten yourself even more shutter speed for that tail. (Unless the convertor is controlling the F-stop) It is the slightest bit soft.

Overall, great image and love the story. There is something powerful he is communicating by the way he is holding his head. It’s clear you’ve watched them and captured patternistic behavior in a great way.

One thing I might suggest, is color enhancing the water a little? Take some of that green out of it and maybe add a touch of black? I’d like to see the hue of the water not match him so much so he stands out more.

You can even crop this as a pano by including that wake he is making if that is in the frame. Well shot!

Hope that helps,

Julie

3

Thank you for your comments, this is very helpful.