Mallard - Deschutes River, Oregon

[gareth thomson]

I love shooting mallards, but usually the light doesn't illuminate their heads very well, Got lucky with this guy I think. I believe he's even smiling for the camera. C&C always appreciated. Crop ok?

BTW: Not that it matters, I suppose, but how do you get the text below the image?


Pentax K-5
Pentax 300mm f4
f4.5
1 / 1250
handheld
iso 400


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[Shawn Zierman]

Nice light quality. I like the background water color and warmth.
Crop wise, one consideration would be to take some off the top.
Tech wise, iso800 with more shutter speed also seems more useful
in this scenario...

[John Cooper]

A very nice capture of the Mallard in flight Gareth. I quite like your crop here but agree with Shawn that a bit of extra speed up your sleeve would have been beneficial. Though having said that, the detail isn't all that bad particularly on the head where it counts most.

[Julie Brown]

Hi Gareth. Nice color and feather detail on the bird. I like the background as well. In addition to a faster shutter speed, if this were mine I would give the bird a bit more room to fly into on the left side of the frame.

[gareth thomson]

Thanks Shawn, John, and Julie - appreciate your input. I'll take a look at the psd file to see if I have any room at the left, and I'll shave a bit off the top too. About shutter speed: 1250th is typical for me - 'cause I like the blur it creates on the wings - at the expense of some detail on the bird. If I can get away w/ it, sometimes I shoot even slower, but much below 1000th and my panning technique doesn't hold up., and I lose too much detail. I keep trying though.

[Robert Holguin]

Great shot.
Very nice light, great background, and nice flight pose.
Well done.

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent flight pose captured.Love the colors,wing position and the way bird pops up against lovely water.
I would crop quite a bit on the top and slightly at the bottom too.

Regards,
Satish.

[Petros Petrou]

Great flight image. Good exposure and detail. I actually like the action blur at the wingtips. For the crop I fully agree with Satish's suggestions above.

[David Salem]

Very nice flight shot. Exposed well and lots of great color. I know what you mean about a drakes head. Very hard to get the right light on it to make the green color pop. So Good job.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Good wing positions, good colours, and nice light. I'd prefer less at top (or more at left) for a more traditional 3:2 ratio.