Free-flying wondersproats:
Here is a shoveler from a semi-recent morning spent among them. It was one of my favorite times: the birds were oblivious to my lurking presence and I just sat there on the ground, low as I could, in the mud with my boots often in the water. I would have said YES to a lower perspective, but getting any lower would have been dangerous, I'm afraid. Please know that I am NOT an "angle apologist" and am a fan of ALL perspectives and getting as many perspectives as possible, determined always on a situation-by-situation basis. But yes, on this morning with the good shovelers, I would have gotten lower if I could have gotten lower. My spirits, however, were anything but; you know how the autumnal waterways of early morning can be! Those trees will reflect and make magic in the water, making us go crazy with elation! This picture was taken with the Canon 7D and 70-300L at 300mm. iso800, 1/320, f5.6. I cropped a slab from the top and a pinch from the right, all in the name of composition, such as it is. I tend not to post a picture that doesn't please me quite a bit, but my problem with this one is the blue-green waterlines that intersect the shoveler. A minor minus in my books, which are admittedly abnormal, but I'd be curious to hear what you have to say? Last: this is a fairly detailed image and thusly had to be compressed heavily so as to keep the file size under 250KB. I wonder if any nasty compression-related artifacts are evident to you? I am on a laptop and haven't the eyes for it...
Many thanks and all the best,
Breakfast.
I like the composition/placement of the bird. Colorful water, and yes. would prefer it without the heavy green band intersecting the bird.
Nice display of the signature bill. The bird is quite cool color temp wise, probably in the shadows, one of my favorite uses for fill flash. It keeps the lovely water color by brightens and warms the colors of the bird.
Randy, you're quite right! I never use fill flash, possibly because I don't own an external flash, and also because it's just not something I've ever wanted to do. How's that for an immature response? A non-answer, really! I do love the cool look to this bird, yes, because of the shadows, but now that you mention fill flash I'd be curious to see if I liked the bird better with the fill flash! And I am ALWAYS looking for an excuse to spend money I don't have on 'essential' photographic gear. I'll see what my ladyfriend has to say about this. I'll tell her that my photos could possibly be improved with a minimal investment and, given that she's quite prudent and wise, will await her answer excitedly. Something to think about, anyhow...
P.S. But doesn't fill flash do all kinds of nasty things to the bird's eye? Photographically speaking? And of course, I despise being photographed with flash and thusly figured birds might feel the same way, especially given that their eyes are FAR more sensitive than mine. Would love to learn more...and so I shall...plenty of resources around...heaven bless the internet...
Last edited by Jack Breakfast; 12-06-2012 at 01:17 PM.
Hi Jack,
Good wing flap and look at the bill.
I find that the duck is quite dark so gets overwhelmed by the bright gold BG.
I would selectively increase the exposure on the duck and selectively decrease the brightness of the water.
Gail
Agree with Gail's points. That water is overpowering a little fill flash would have really made the difference hope you could fix it is PP. Also wish the far wing was a bit sharper. Like the wing flap and the position of the bill though.
Okay folks, I might agree with you on this one. I think I'll abandon this picture as I have many others from the same morning that don't feature such an annoying juxtaposition. Sometimes a juxtaposition, even when it's jarring, can elevate a picture into the holy ethers, but not this one, no way, not by a long stretch. I love the coolness of the shoveler here but think the water's too bright. I could tone down the water, of course, but hardly think it's worth it, given the annoyance I feel from the intersecting waterlines. The good pictures get better with repeated viewing and study but this one is just vexing me. It happens sometimes!
Jack, I'll answer a couple questions about flash, to the best of my limited knowledge. Yes, it messes up the loo of the eye. The solution is to buy a flash bracket (more $ out the door) to raise your flash unit higher which eliminates the look called "Steel eye". I met a bird eye doctor on a trip to Minnesota and he said that flash has no long term negative effect on birds eyes. In the case of this image, you really have two exposures happening here, one is the bird, the other is the background. I believe that the only way to properly handle this would have been to flash the bird (more than "Fill") and expose for the bg. Tricky, but if done well, can look great. That said, I far and away prefer natural light with no flash, but to each his own.
Grace, many thanks for the interesting information, it's much appreciated. I wasn't aware of the flash bracket. I believe I'll stick to no-flash photography, seeing as my gut tells me I shouldn't be flashing birds under any circumstances (do unto others: a code in that vein is the only thing that keeps me from feeling overly guilty over bird photography, which even at the best of times does a bird no favors) and seeing as I too prefer natural light, whenever possible. As for this picture, I don't seem to agree with the general consensus RE exposure, which is to say that I love the way the bird looks but don't like the look of the overly bright water, the water hurts my eyes, but anyhow this image isn't worth the time or the trouble, and I won't lose any sleep over junking it, which only really means that it will sit forever on a hard drive b/c I get too attached to even the baddies and can't seem to throw them irretrievably away...
Flapping Shoveler Along the Autumnal Waterways
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