Wakulla Springs Wood Duck

[George Burton]

Canon EOS 40D
Tamron 200-500
500 mm handheld
f/6.3
1/640 sec.
ISO 640
Approx. 9:45 AM

I took this photo from a jungle boat tour at Wakulla Springs State Park just outside of Tallahassee, Florida. First photo offered up for critique...I'm a little nervous, yet anxious to see what comments are offered up....
George Burton

[jack williamson]

Welcome George. no need to be nervous. I was to at first but you will get excellent advice here from very qualified people. First you will quickly learn how important head angle is. This duck is angled slightly away from you which is ok but would have been much better if his head had have been turned back toward you. The face area looks pretty sharp, the duck is placed a little too far to the right in the frame and the background could use some noise reduction. Keep posting and again welcome!


Jack


Sorry, I meant the duck is too far to the left in the frame.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hello George, and big welcome to BPN and Eager To Learn. We are happy to have you here and look forward to seeing your images! :wave: Is that a strange smiley, or what?

Jack makes a good point about the head angle, always looks better when you have the bird looking a lit bit in your direction. You have really nice color in the duck and nice rendition of the subtler colors. A little more sharpness and toning down the highlights in the water would make this image stronger IMO. Keep them coming!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

George,

Great tips above and welcome. I love ducks and this one is a beautiful subject. Regarding the highlights, how did the histogram look.

[Rachel Farquhar]

I like the way you caught the duck's bill with the water still clinging to it, and I like the colors on the duck, those were well exposed. The highlights on the water are a little too bright and distract my attention away from the duck.

[wendell westfall]

George, I've never seen one in the wild nor have I got a picture of a wood duck; they sure are pretty. Good advice above and I would only add that the background overwhelms the subject a bit. Your first submission is far superior to my first and to many later ones as well. Bring 'em on . . .

[George Burton]

Thanks for all the comments! I really appreciate the feedback. Every time I've seen one of these ducks, they always seem to be primarily concerned with getting away from me as quickly as possible! I haven't been quick enough to get one looking at me head on. But they are gorgeous...and I think this one is a female but I'm not sure. Jeff, regarding the histogram, I'm not real comfortable with using them because I don't always understand what I'm looking at...sometimes things seem pretty clear to me and others, I just scratch my head. I shoot raw and use Bridge to download, Adobe Raw to process and PS CS3 to fine-tune the sharpening. I'm not very well versed in PS so I hope to get some insights here with regard to things like toning down the highlights of the water and background. Most of the editing I do is generalized and across the whole image. I don't really have a grip on isolating and working on individual pieces of the photos.
Another reason I'm excited to have found this resource! I hope to learn a lot!
Thanks again for all the comments...and I plan to keep posting! I don't ever seem to have problems with showing (anyone who'll look) my photos! :bg3:

And, yes, Kerry...that is a strange smiley!

[Kerry Perkins]

George, we have stranger smileys! :eek3::bugeyed::Whoa!: Not sure why...

If you haven't found this part of the site, you should definitely check it out - http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/forumdisplay.php/30-Tutorials-and-Educational-Resources