New Arrivals

[Dawn Currie]

I love this time of year in Central Florida. Every time you go out, whether to the town park or the wetlands and preserves, there is always a new feathered visitor or two. Yesterday a new pair of ducks joined the mottled ducks already enjoying the lake at Gleason Park.

Canon 450D, 75-300mm at 300mm, ISO 400, f/10.0, 1/400 sec

[Ben_Sadd]

Good use of a higher aperture to try and get more in focus. I would consider a bit of a crop from the top to move the ducks out of the centre. I like the spacing of the birds, but wish the two to the right were looking our way and that the head of the one on the right did not intersect with the back bird.

[Julie Kenward]

Dawn, first let me just say that you should be proud of yourself for even trying to tackle this exposure properly...you were very close! The head of the main duck and the side of the head on the duck far right were a bit too light while the main bodies were mostly a bit too dark. If you look at your histogram you'll see a tiny spike on the right side (the whites) and a little bit bigger spike on the left (the darks.) I opened the image in ACR and readjusted it a bit and it's a very mild difference but I think it made a difference.

I also noticed that there was a slight reddish cast to the FG water and the bird's feathers so I did a slight adjustment there as well.

I saw that the angle you shot at was a bit high but not by much so I did a filter/distortion change in PS, moving the birds so the back bird was not quite so low when compared to the front ones.

I sharpened and recropped - again - all very minor adjustments! It was soooo close to being the best it could be - just needed to take a good hard look and try to see where you can make the image stronger.

[Dawn Currie]

Thanks for the advice and working so hard on my image. It demonstrates that small adjustments do matter.

[pat lillich]

what cool birds - I love ducks, and for some reason we don't seem to have very many around here. what are the two smaller ones in the front left? I like the closer crop - it makes the ducks pop out more.

[Peter Farrell]

Julies adjustments make this a stronger image.
Peter

[annmpacheco]

Jules, I like that the new pair are looking our way. Crop and adjustment makes a better image here. TFS Ann

[Dawn Currie]

I'm not sure, but I think the duck on the left is a Lesser Scaup based on head shape and bill color. His partner is a bit confusing - maybe a hybrid?