Mandarin Duck

[Richard Greenwood]

I'm back with another of my shots. Taken yesterday at a local reserve. I quite liked the way this cropped out with the reflection and the ripples.

Still trying to get the shutter speeds high enough. Hope I'm getting there!!



AV mode, f5.6, 1/400, ISO 640, -0.3 EV 400mm focal length. Handheld from a hide with a 7D and 100-400 L

Thanks for looking.

Richard

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Richard,

You are getting there my friend keep at it. The exposure techs are not bad but you might have hot pixels in the bright or white areas. Does the histogram show any clipping on the right side. If so, the shutter could be higher; do you have blinkies turned on to display on the back LCD when overexposure occurs?

Look at the upper right hand corner, what do you see. There is an opportunity to clean up the frame and it is a bit tight too. Often we focus on technical specifications before composition so that is ok for now,.. but the subject is in the middle of the frame and the rule of thirds might help here. Moreover, moving the subject to the left so he/she looks into the frame,...

Keep em coming and remember two things from my critique,..(1) set the exposure/shutter for the whites and everything else falls into place (2) the frame should have balance, bit too tight and remove distracting elements.

[Jeannean Ryman]

I would just love to see one in plumage. (I saw one in eclipse plumage once, and eh. ;) Jeff's tips echo mine. Keep at it and hope you get another shot at this beauty!

[P-A. Fortin]

I guess the "unbalance" in the frame is because he wanted to include the reflection of the bird in the image. I have to admit that this is something I'm struggling with as well.

To the comments, I may add that I might try to boost contrast/saturation just a little bit.