Wood Duck - First Thread!

[Joshua Meehl]

Wood Duck by Joshua Meehl


Hi everyone. This is my first posting of an image to critique, so all C&C is greatly appreciated. The image has not been cropped or post processed in any way.

This guy was tying to woo a female mallard, so it was difficult to get an isolated shot. Normally they are very skiddish around people, but he was associating with tame mallards and allowed me to get close.

I composed his eye so that it is centered horizontally. I did this so that his eye would follow you regardless of your viewing angle. I'm interested if it worked, or if people prefer a conventional off-centered eye.

D3200 w/ 70-300mm @ 300mm, 1/400 s, f/7.1, ISO 1600. I stopped down the aperture, since he was close to my minimum focusing distance. The weather was overcast with light snowfall.

-Josh

[Sandy Witvoet]

Hi Josh,
Sweet shot of one of my favorite birds.... love the snowflakes on his back and head! I like the idea, as you mentioned of following his eye....Not sure about the best placement of him in the frame, but perhaps trying to eliminate some of the bright OOF lake reflections on top may help to focus on the duck?...he seems a bit low in the frame. Could the image handle a bit of a crop? I Like the head angle...might be nice if the bright white on his bill could be "tamed" a bit. I really enjoy seeing images with no/minimal PP.... great job on capturing a lovely image. You are right.... these guys are WAY skittish!

[Joel Eade]

Hi Josh and welcome aboard:)

I agree with Sandy....the highlights in the lake are distracting the attention away from your beautiful subject....you could crop some off the top to get a more horizontal image, tone down the brightness of the water and lighten the bird a little as well. Nice first post....keep 'em comin'

[Marina Scarr]

I think your composition works well here. Good job on keeping the eye in focus and recomposing. The background doesn't bother me too much. I do think some post processing (PP) is necessary here. I would like to see some more pop in the colors of the duck and I think it needs a little sharpening.

Congratulations on your first post, and looking forward to many more!

[Jeannean Ryman]

Welcome Josh! I love wood ducks. We don't get many around here (1 or 2 strays now and then). I agree with Marina about needing a bit of PP to bring out the colors of this gorgeous duck. Very nice shot!

[Leon Plympton]

Josh -

Love the composition,
but as others have pointed out -
some post processing is needed to
put some sizzle on the steak.

[Joshua Meehl]

Thanks for the feedback, everybody.

I'm currently working through Artie's Digital Basics and hope to post a polished version before long.

[Joshua Meehl]

Here is an edited version:


Wood Duck - Edit 1 by Joshua Meehl


I made a tighter crop.

I put the background on a mask and reduced noise and highlights.

I also lightened his head to bring out the iridescent greens and increased the saturation a tad.

Let me know what you think. All comments are appreciated!

[Michael Todd]

The repost looks really good Joshua. The colors seem to pop better against the water.