I shot a number of photos of these two pairs of Mallard Ducks as they swam around the tidal pond but I found this image to be rather unique because of the contrast between the ducks and the strong linear patterns of the tall grasses. It breaks a whole lot of avian photography rules (such as obvious distractions, too busy, overbearing background, too small in the frame, etc, etc.) but despite all that I kind of liked it I thought I’d post it to see how it strikes other people.
While not a classic bird image, Gary, this is a lovely scene in which the Mallards do their share to anchor the composition. My only suggestion might be to take a bit more off the bottom and dull some of the bright green reflection in the water. I think the ducks would more firmly anchor the image that way.
Hi Gary, …Dave’s right as the image sits now the horizon is dead center and the front/lower is out of focus and does noting to add to the subject. | Take the image into CC19, keep your ratio and crop to the golden spiral. Your first green head mallard falls right in eye spiral and the nice marsh grass is nicely compositioned in the curve. This can be tweaked jut a bit further , brighten slightly both of the green mallards face and the water reflection a tad. Fill in the big black hole in the background top with CAF or clone stamp. I think you could tone down the saturation in the back grasses. Warm colors push forward in an image and you really want them to stay in the back. This is nice environment image
I thought I’d post it to see how it strikes other people.