Detail of a Mallard

[Claude Ostfeld]

Mallard
Anas platyrhynchos
Oasi Sant'Alessio near Pavia, Italy
Nikon D700 F5.6 1/125 Manual Mode 0 EV AWB
Nikon 300mm f2.8D IF-ED +Nikon TC-14EII
420mm
ISO 640
Gray rainy day

Manfrotto Carbon fiber tripod with 804RC2 3-Way Pan/Tilt Head

At this nature reserve some birds are free and others are not.
Mallards are very common and are free to stay or leave without constraints.

This image is a crop from a larger image. No other retouching of any kind has been applied.
Before using Lightroom 3 or Capture NX2 other than to crop the image, I'd like to see what an expert would do with this image. The body of this mallard is not as well focused as the head, hence my choice to present a crop of it.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi Claude. My favorite; gray rainy days! Makes exposure so much easier. In this low contrast light you usually need to add a bit of contrast and saturation post processing, and I would suggest it here.
In your RAW converter you need to use the recovery slider to try to recover the whites, especially the white band around the neck; the whites are clipped, and the mallard isn't the only duck to have similar white plummage in one place or another. In high contrast light (bright sunlight) theses whites are hardly ever recoverable (reveal detail), however in low contrast light, as you have here, it is much more likely.
Lower viewing angles are usually a big advantage, mainly to reduce the impact of distracting backgrounds. It would have helped here as well.
You have very good feather detail and a nice catchlight. regards~Bill

[Claude Ostfeld]

Hi,
I applied your suggestions adding contrast and saturation using LR3.
I also used the Recovery slider to enhance the white neck markings.
Useful tool as white feathers are always a nuisance.

There is a marked improvement in the details.

I notice that increasing Saturation also changes the water's color tone a little.
I did not apply much saturation (+6).
I added a bit of sharpening too.

The purpose of uploading this picture was to "start" from an image straight out of the camera and I am pleased with the results.
Thank you very much. :)
Claude

[Julie Kenward]

Claude, I agree with William's critique but would add a few other things to consider...

The first thing I noticed was the beak - and that led me to look at the entire image. It feels slightly over exposed to me. I'd pull the midtones and bright tones down a bit, giving the image more depth. I'd also tone down the bright area of the beak - it really pulls my eye from his eye. You can do this by grabbing the eye dropper tool, selecting a yellow on the beak, switching to a soft brush, lowering the opacity to 15-35% and painting over the lighter areas so they tone down a bit.

I would also suggest selecting just the eye and doing a curves adjustment there to bring up the light tones and down the mid tones, making the eye have more pop.

Best suggestion is getting lower next time - trying for that eye level instead of slightly above it whenever possible and getting as much of the duck in the focal plane of the camera as possible.

[Claude Ostfeld]

Hi Jules
I have made an attempt to adopt your suggestions.
Post processing seems to be a bit like I imagine piano playing or flying .... you have to learn how to use a delicate touch and not overdo things.
Anyway I am very happy with the change in the eye's brilliance.
I am not so sure about the beak but I will be trying some more.
Thankyou for your advice and critique. :D
Claude

[Julie Kenward]

Claude, that eye is rockin'! Just need to even out the beak a bit more. You're absolutely right...start light...see if that works. If not, go heavier, and always try to do things in one solid pass if at all possible so there are no lines of demarkation.

It's all about practice...just like anything else in life!