Canvasback

[Don Jacobs]

I shot this guy the other day. Had a lot of different ducks in a group so getting them alone was hard. Was happy to get this shot of him alone. Shot using 7D, 300 +2X, ISO 320, 1/800, f/8.0 C&C greatly appreciated.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Don,

Really like this one, it shows the beauty of this creature and for that I appreciate the moment. The background (water) is great and compliments the subject and you have a clean well lit eye - simple elements that spawn a strong photograph. The whites look in check but might be a hot one here and there, I did not test the pixels in CS5 for anything over 255, how was the histogram.

Head angle is spot on and I LOVE the water,..just great only nit it is might be a bit tight on the left,..lets see what other say,.might be me. Thanks for posting, nice techs and moment in life,...keep em coming!!!!!!!!!

[Don Jacobs]

Jeff,

Thank yoou for the comments. This is a beautiful creature and exactly why I just took what I had before me. The histogram looks pretty balanced, well at least from what I "know". Didn't see any "hot" whites on my monitor and I had the program set to highlight them.

[Marina Scarr]

Your best so far, Dan, and you're doing well with the 2x. I think you could be up to at least ISO 400 with the 7D. No need to be photographing ducks below that ISO that will help you increase your speed a little bit esp with that 2x on. Realize it's tight b/c you were cutting out other birds. While the whites aren't creeping up the right side, I think you can go back to RAW and recover more in those whites and the spots where they are mixed with blacks to make this an even better capture.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Don,

Sounds good to me, I was just watching the monitor not very scientific but thought I saw some dead spots w/o detail,...

[Don Jacobs]

Marina,

Thanks for the comments. I went back to the RAW version and made some adjustments. Is this any better?
http://i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww103/deerlvr_2009/IMG_5177-3.jpg

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Oh yea,...you get it, nice one and the detail is much better. The exposure might have been off a tad but the post processing recovery worked - well done. Thats the way to make a pic strong. Too often folks post a really nice shot but fail to push it, fail to looks at the shot magnified, every corner perfect and fine tune the exposure,..you are on the right track here.

Its that detail that changes a nice shot to a stunning one - well done.

[Marina Scarr]

Agree with Jeff that this looks a ton better. Well done, Don!!!

[John Chardine]

Superb Don. Lovely species, great exposure, beautiful colours. On my monitor the whites in the OP look great.

I agree the crop is too tight bottom and left. Not easy to explain what might be better but here's one option- I had to create canvas at the bottom and to the left and just did a quick job to fill. With some time you could do much better. I am not advocating this sort of major edit in post- it's much better to get it right or approx. right in camera and then fine tune later. Also rotated CW some- wavy water can often be deceiving so may have gone overboard here.

Very well done.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Don, I think the image was well done as well, the highlights were not clipped, and thus the fine detail of the light plummage (the fine vermiculation that resembles canvas, i.e. the duck's name) could be enhanced, but this area needs to be treated independently from the rest of the image. Global adjustments (to the entire image) in the RAW converter are unlkely to enhance detail enough without damaging the rest of the image.
Local adjustment is possible in some RAW converters, like recent alliterations of ACR, especially ACR 7 (you need CS6 to use it, bummer) ACR 6 and 7 have whats called an adustment brush and ACR 7 has expanded capability from ver 6. It has slider controlled variations that include exposure, sharpness, clarity, contrast, and even noise reduction, that can be applied by brush to specific areas of your image. In the case of this image increasing contrast is most useful, though sharpness, clarity, etc., are easy enough to try out.
In photoshop itself, if you don't have a recent copy of ACR, using a burning technique is the standard method, though Topaz and NIK plug ins can also be used as well.
regards~Bill

[Clyde Hopper]

I too like the repost ,and John's as well . great advice given . This is a beauty !

[John Chardine]

Don, I think the image was well done as well, the highlights were not clipped, and thus the fine detail of the light plummage (the fine vermiculation that resembles canvas, i.e. the duck's name) could be enhanced, but this area needs to be treated independently from the rest of the image. Global adjustments (to the entire image) in the RAW converter are unlkely to enhance detail enough without damaging the rest of the image.
Local adjustment is possible in some RAW converters, like recent alliterations of ACR, especially ACR 7 (you need CS6 to use it, bummer) ACR 6 and 7 have whats called an adustment brush and ACR 7 has expanded capability from ver 6. It has slider controlled variations that include exposure, sharpness, clarity, contrast, and even noise reduction, that can be applied by brush to specific areas of your image. In the case of this image increasing contrast is most useful, though sharpness, clarity, etc., are easy enough to try out.
In photoshop itself, if you don't have a recent copy of ACR, using a burning technique is the standard method, though Topaz and NIK plug ins can also be used as well.
regards~Bill

Hi Bill- Adjustment brushes were available in CS5 too.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi John. Yes, adjustment brushes were in ACR 6 (which came with CS5) and ACR7 (which came with CS6). I wish the numbers would correspond, but they don't.

[John Chardine]

Bill- It's all part of Adobe's cunning plan!