Catching the red-eye....

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi Everyone,
I took this image of a wood duck at the Slimbridge Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Gloucestershire, UK. I cropped the original image, added a little saturation and sharpening but nothing else.

Canon 40D
100-400IS @400
F8
ISO 100
Evaluative metering @ -1 stop
Bright sunlight 3pm

Look forward to your comments!!
Regards,
Nicki ;)

[WIlliam Maroldo]

I am pretty new to this forum as well, and although I like your image a lot I'm so new to this that I can't make any valid critiques to how the image itself could be improved, other that it seems a little under exposed. However, images can be up to 800x800 pixels, so why not show a larger version? Also, in my opinion, you need to compress the image a little more when you make your JPEG. Larger file sizes take longer to download, and there is no visible advantage (especially on the web) in not compressing the image a little more. 70kb might seem more appropriate for the size of your image. On the other hand a 800x600pixel image could turn out to be 144kb and that would be no problem. Just my two cents and welcome aboard!

[Dan Brown]

Welcome Nicki. Nice shot and crop. I agree that you could present the image larger. A lower angle would have improved the image. The harsh light has burned the neck feathers out a bit and the face around the eye is way dark. Maybe you could try Shadow/Highlight in PS to fix some of this. You could do a quick mask on the face and lighten the area, but I think that the white of the neck may be gone. The advice that I have been given and try to follow is, shoot in the morning/evening/cloudy conditions and use the mid day harsh light times for computer time or nap time!

Dan Brown,
Sacramento

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Nicki,
Welcome to the BPN family,
No nits from me..all points covered by Dan...I like your Woody...:)

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi All,
Thanks for your comments. I wasn't sure that I understood the resizing issue but I've given it a go. I've applied the shadow/highlight tool but don't know how to do the quick mask:o. I'd love some more feedback on the resizing - especially if I've done it wrong!!
Many thanks, regards to all,
Nicki

[Desmond Chan]

In addition to what have been said, you could try to crop a bit more from the left to make it a square...like Hasselblad's 6x6 format.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Desmond, I like it - do you?!

[SeanKP]

Wow Nicki, that's a great improvement. I love that image in the water drop.

[Alfred Forns]

Great suggestions guys !!!! Love the end result !!! Can add you could move the eye so it intersects the upper third quadrant. A strong compositional anchor which seems to make a difference !!!

Sizing wise we allow 800 kp and might as well take advantage. If you use save for web command it is possible to specify your target but if yo use save as then you can not.

The quick mask is very easy. Basically you hit the letter "Q" to enter tne "B" to select the brush. Make sure the square on the left is set to black/white and the black in on top then all you do is paint over the area to be selected. When you finish hit the "Q" again to exit quick mask. To work on the area you painted inverting the selection is in order. Command/shitt/I or do it form the menu (select/inverse) The marching ants will show and you can make them invisible by itting Option+ H (alt on PC)

[Nonda Surratt]

Cool to see the image progress, like the final!

[Lance Peters]

Love the final - well done

lance

[Desmond Chan]

Desmond, I like it - do you?!

Certainly, Nicki !