Repost with changes along the lines suggested by Diane:
Original:
Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Another one from last Thursday. This log was pretty near the platform I was on, so this was taken lying down with the lens resting on the bottom rail of the three tier guard rail (there was just enough gap to kind of wedge my lens hood against it).
Specific Feedback
The background was full of out of focus lily pads that made dark blobs of more or less resolution. I used a tilt-shift blur on it then went over the darker spots with a semi-transparent soft brush of a lighter color picked up adjacent to the darker area. I notice on smaller views, the background still looks blotchy, but I’m interested in how it comes across in the larger view.
Technical Details
Sony A1, FE 200-600 + 1.4 TC @ 581 mm, f/9, 1/640, iso 1000, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. I divided this into three layers for processing: foreground (a little burning), background (quite a bit of cleanup and blurring as noted above), and the duck itself (midtones, luminosity and some brushes in LR as a finishing touch). The image is uncropped.