Itchy Mallard

[Matt Vosniak]

Whenever I get an opportunity to shoot a fairly common bird I always try to get them doing something cool or different to make a more interesting image rather than just another shot of a common bird. When a small group of Mallards jumped up on a log to preen a bit I decided to have a go at them. I wanted to try and get a male preening with the correct head angle to get the green sheen on the head to really light up in the bright sunlight. When this fella started scratching his head I got what I was hoping for. Thanks for looking and I hope you like.

Matt

40D, 300mm + 1.4x converter, 1/1000th, f 7.1, ISO 400, -1/3 exp comp.

[Clement Francis]

Brilliant colors on the bird

[Tony Whitehead]

You've captured the iridescence well here, Matt. From a composition perspective, I would try a tighter crop to move the head off centre. Something like this.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the behavior, angle and eye contact. The alternative crop works, too. I find the bright spot next to the head a bit distracting.

[denise ippolito]

I like the one-footed pose. The fall colored BG is nice. Nice eye contact. Unique looking Mallard image.

[Randy Stout]

Matt:

If Mallards weren't so common, we would all ooh and ahh about how beautiful they are! I like them.

My 1st thought when I opened your image was, cool pose, needs a little crop from the right. I might go between your OP and Tony's, wouldn't come in quite as far from the right or top.

Good job on the green sheen, not always easy to get it just right.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

You are 100% correct in saying a behavioural shot beats a still pose. Well exposed, and I too would have added a bit more to Tony's RHS crop.

[David Fletcher]

Absolutely spot on with this cool behavioral shot in preference to a posed shot Matt. Nicely done. Worth a tickle as mentioned on the bright area by the head and the crop suggestion. Hope you don't mind but did a Quick Mask removal on the bright area and tried a crop. (appreciate all crop choices are subjective), and put on the Golden section Spiral to gauge the crop. (I always crop by eye and sometimes check/measure it with Golden sections etc).