motif: Not Nice Weather For a Duck!

[SeanKP]

There was dark cloud overhead and it was raining heavily. Off in the far distance the low winter sun shone brightly, illuminating the scene. Somewhere in between a rainbow tantalised. The light was wonderfully surreal.

I wish I could have done it more justice...

40D + 400mmDO + 1.4TC. ISO 400. f5.6 @ 1/320 sec. Aperture Priority. 0 ec.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers.

Sean

[Alfred Forns]

HI Sean You did have magical light !!!!

Was looking at the exposure compensation and believe your histogram will show it was under exposed? I know there are lots of dark tones which will open the meter but experience tells me to open 2/3 to 1 stop. Check it and let me know.

Would like to see a little more detail in the shadows but love that prominent eye and pose. Would crop a tiny bit from the bottom and then leave about the same space on top !!! You got a keeper !!! Big Congrats !!! btw on most of these ducks the eye looks funky (nothing you can do) just select and work on the pupil !!

[Gail Spitler]

One of the many things I notice about this image is how the light is acting as a spotlight to focus the viewer right on the duck.
Very nice.
Gail

[Nonda Surratt]

Wowie Sean!!!! Love that eye and the light.

Alfred covered any other stuff

[SeanKP]

Hi Guys. Thanks for the comments.

Alfred, I totally agree with your cropping suggestion.

I'm at work at the moment without access to the RAW file but I'm pretty sure that I darkened the image quite a lot in DPP. The water looked a bit washed out otherwise. I'll check when I get home tonight. Do you think the duck is too dark? Should I try and lighten it without lightening the water?

Cheers.

Sean

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Hi Sean,
The light is really nice in this one and beautiful colours in the water. I might try lightening up the ducks rump a bit and see what it looks like:)

[Alfred Forns]

Would try darkening just a bit but don't let it get weird. It s a lovely image as presented and on I wish I had !!!!

Curious about the histogram !!!

[denise ippolito]

Sean, Very nice pose and colors! Would maybe lighten rumo as Jackie suggested. Anyway good job!

[Harold Davis]

this one is different in compo and i like it! awesome colors too!! great job!

[SeanKP]

Interesting! I had indeed reduced the exposure in DPP by 2/3 stop and I'd moved the black slider right across to the edge of the histogram. But I'd also reduced contrast to -2, I guess to preserve some detail in the rump.

However, looking at the histogram (I can't figure out how to do print screen on my laptop) there is plenty of room to the right. If it means anything to anyone the furthest white point is just about touching 2.0. This is the image unedited (except for crop), straight out of the camera. Picture style is standard, white balance is shot settings, sharpness is 0, no noise reduction and no other adjustments.

[SeanKP]

So, I figured I'd edit that one in PS and see what I came up with. Here is the result. I've incorporated Alfred's crop, did some levels in a layer with the duck masked and messed with the saturation slightly. Apart from the improved crop, it doesn't look too different to me. I'm not too sure what that means. I guess I need to figure that out. But, it's been a fascinating exercise.

Cheers.

Sean

Edit: Actually, in hindsight I do see a difference although I'm struggling to decide which I prefer.

[Harold Davis]

sean, i gave it a contrast boost and put a color control point on it's butt and brightened just that area. a little sharpening only to the bird and here it is. i love this image. only thing i see that could make it better is to clone out all the junk in the water.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Sean,
I like the composition. The light is very pleasing. I love the soft multi colored tones and hues. I like the original as presented...:cool: