Posing Pintail
Greater Scaup with Clam
Shoveler’s Reflection
Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I’ve been traveling to a bunch of NWRs and Preserves this past month or so. I’m pretty happy with the series of sitting/floating ducks I’ve been able to get. Nothing spectacular, but some of these have pretty interesting lighting, colors, and actions. I’m still sifting through thousands of photos to come up with a handful that I really like. The green-winged teal and greater scaup are from Bolsa Chica Preserve in Southern California. The Northern Pintail is from the Colusa NWR, and the Northern Shoveler is from Sacramento NWR.
Specific Feedback
Primarily looking for your thoughts on the specs with these, too bright, too dark, sharp enough, composition, position (scaup slightly turned away)? Colors look realistic, etc. Any thoughts are welcome.
Technical Details
- Canon 7D MII, f11, 1/1600 sec, iso 640, 560 mm (100-400/1.4TC)
- 7D MII, f7.1, 1/2000 sec, iso 400, -0.7 exp bias, 390 mm
- 7D MII, f14, 1/1600 sec, iso 800, 420 mm
- 7D MII, f8, 1/400 sec, iso 2000, +0.7 exp bias, 560 mm, cloudy day early
Hi Ed, nice series of ducks. Must have been exciting to be able to get all these shots. Ducks other than mallards tend to keep their distance from me. In general these are pleasing images to me. I could see lowering the highlights in the first two images and see what difference that makes. Compositions look good to me as each duck has a reasonable amount of space to swim into.
A lower shooting angle may be something to consider especially on the first two shots. Not always possible I know. These are still fine captures.
Sharpness looks okay even though there may be another level to reach in terms of really fine detail.
Overall, a really nice series of ducks that are tough to capture. Kudos to getting these!
An enjoyable collection of ducks. I especially like the pose of the pintail. Nice catch for both you and the scaup. I’d be tempted to remove the white spots around the shoveler. The colors look great, my only question would be the green in the teal’s wing, seems brighter and more saturated than I’m used to seeing.
A nice series, Ed. I’ve been to most of those refuges and I really like the Sacramento because you’re closer to water level in many places.
General comment: On my screen the whites are looking pretty hot in most of the images. I think it would be worth bringing the highlights down in your raw editor on all of them.
You caught great action in the Scaup. The Teal’s head looks just slightly soft to my eye-perhaps a microcontrast boost in that area or a bit more sharpening. I can’t be sure without taking it into PS, but the Shoveler looks like it could use a little rotation and I’d crop from top and bottom for a more horizontal presentation as the water isn’t adding much of interest at either extreme. I love the pose of the Pintail! It’s a great shot.
Sorry for being so late to reply on these. Thank you @Allen_Sparks, @Allen_Brooks, and @Dennis_Plank. I finally got around to making some adjustments to these ducks. Not sure I went far enough on bringing down the highlights, but I tried lowering the brightness on the greenwinged teal and the scaup. I also recropped the shoveler. Thank you for your recommendations on these.
