Canvas back

[Ron Caswell]

First time posting at BPN for critique, Learned about this site from a few friends and am getting acquainted with the forums and hope to meet some new people. About the image, I took this at the local bird sanctuary in a partly shaded area that the canvas back swam into. I almost deleted the image after reviewing in on the LCD. When I looked at it at home I liked how dark the mood was but yet still seemed to show features of the duck's coloring. Well just wanting to know what you guys and gals thought of it. Thank you, Ron

Shot with 5D2 500f4 w/1.4tc 1250s 7.1a 640iso
http://caswell.zenfolio.com/img/v1/p271266253.jpg

[denise ippolito]

Ron, Welcome to BPN. I like the mood also. The duck is sharp. I wish the head was turned just a bit more towards you-but it does seem to be looking off into the distance. Does it need a slight rotation. Very,very nice first post. You will have alot of fun posting on BPN. This is a great site for learning and exchanging ideas and thoughts. Again welcome aboard.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Welcome to BPN!
wish the head was turned just a bit more towards you...otherwise beautiful low angle,eye contact,pose!

[Randy Stout]

Ron:

A big welcome to BPN. Glad you didn't delete it. Mood is very nice, almost contemplative. Well exposed, eye nice, good DOF.

From a composition standpoint, I wish there was a bit more room at top, he is a bit crowded for my tastes.

Denise touched on the head angle, or position of the head relative to the imaging plane. In a look back pose like this, many people feel it is more effective to have the head parallel to the image plane. You will see a lot of mention about head angle (HA) on the site.

Cheers

Randy

[Steve Maxson]

Welcome Ron. Love the mood, the overall sharpness, and the detail in the whites. I would prefer more room at the top and a little more on the right for him to look into (this could easily be added given the smooth, clean background of this image). I like the head angle, as presented, as it leaves you to wonder what the bird is looking at. Of course, having the head turned more toward you would also work well, but it would be a very different image. I assume this is a captive bird? (I say that because I am not seeing any primary flight feathers - suggesting that the bird has been wing clipped.) Keep them coming. :)

[Ron Caswell]

Thank you everyone, Very helpful and nice to see how others see the image. I agree with everything being said.

Steve, I know they had a captive canvas back there at one point in time but had heard it gotten killed, Maybe Randy knows if they now have another one or if something strange has happened to this duck, Thank's again, Ron