A pair of wood ducks on a local pond. From a boardwalk and unable to get lower. Taken in the shade with reflections of the sunny background. I really liked the color of the water. I did have to desaturate it somewhat.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
What artistic feedback would you like if any? I did clone away a few water plants and hope the remaining ones aren’t distracting but they do add to the environment.
Pertinent technical details or techniques: iso-8000, 100-400+ extender at 820 mm APC mode, F8, 5000th, handheld, 50% of full frame or 30 megapixels, A7R4
(If backgrounds have been removed, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
If you would like your image to be eligible for a feature on the NPN Instagram (@NaturePhotoNet), add the tag ‘ig’ and leave your Instagram username below.
Great light on the water. Nice look at the drake and clear reflection. I like the patterns in the water made by the ducks.
I really like the male duck and its reflection, David, and the gold reflection on the pond is awesome. I do find my eye getting pulled to the female more than I liked, so I downloaded your image to play with it. It occurred to me that her proximity to the edge might be giving her a bit of extra visual leverage, so I added canvas on the left and top using content aware crop. I then selected the female and used some blur and desaturation on her. Those two seemed to help, but I still wasn’t really satisfied. I finally flipped the image horizontally and I think that did what I wanted. I’ll let you decide if any of it was worthwhile.
I like what you did. Being left handed doesn’t always allow me to see things this way.
That golden water is very nice. Dennis’s edit is interesting. It does seem to have pulled some focus away from the hen. Personally, I’d probably evict the lily pads, but I dont really have a strong preference. Spec-wise, I see quite a bit of noise in this image also. Is there a reason you dont like to shoot below 1/5000? You could have gotten away with a much lower shutter speed here, which would’ve allowed a corresponding drop in ISO.
Hi David, that look from the male is just great with a very nice reflection too. I also like the water. The original works for me as is.
