It's been quite wintery across the UK today so I decided to try a capture a few wintery bird images. Not much about to be honest so settled for this drake mallard photo with the snow falling. Comments would really be appreciated as always.
7D, 100-400, f5.6, ISO320, 1/160ss +1/3 ev, hand held. Post processed in Lightroom 4. Some highlight reduction, sharpening and a touch of vibrance added. Some whites lack detail but aren't blown.
I am rather fond of Mallards, so don't mind them at all as subjects. I like the snow on his back and in the air. Wish the flake at the base of his bill wasn't there. You may be able to touch that area up a bit.
Sharp, nice shooting angle. If you have Nik Color Efex, you can probably tease out a bit more detail out the the whites, or do it with a multiply or linear burn layer.
Lovely mallard, and I like it against this BG. Nice to see the snow but I think a higher SS would have revealed flakes instead of streaks and avoided the streak on the face. You could probably have done this by increasing your ISO. There is rarely a need to be at an ISO less than 400 for bird photography, and the 7D could have easily handled ISO 640 to 800 here to help with the snow. One thing I really like here is the snow which has accumulated on the bird's back!
Hey Simon,
Great mood and I like the falling snow....even streaking. For me though......I would take about 1/4 of the space above the head. It doesn't diminish the snow effect you have and yet concentrates my attention to the mallard even more. All in all a very nice image!
Mallard in the Snow
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