Mallard High-key Reflection.

[Daniel Cadieux]

This was at first freeze-up of the season, before snow covered the ice. Combine that with a thin layer of water, and no wind, and you get the most perfect reflections one could ask for. On top of that, a cloudy day made for high-key images...something I'm a fan of. Many Mallards, and a lone goose, gave some neat mirror-like opportunities, but were hard to isolate due to the number of individuals. Picked out the best "lone" one, which had its back to me, and waited for the prefect head turn...which took a while! Photographed from my car along the edge of a local man-made lake.

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/100s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, just about FF, boosted contrast and saturation to make the otherwise washed-out scene pop more.

[WillieHall]

love the creative nature of this image and of course it seems perfectly executed. a great example of patience paying off, which I can learn from. I like the placement of the mallard in the frame and the eye and head capture angle.

[Jim Crosswell]

A real beauty Daniel! I like the reflection, exposure, high key, look back pose and perfect composition.

[Loi Nguyen]

Daniel, the reflection is so well defined, amazing. Would like to see a similar image with the duck facing us too. Loi

[keith mitchell]

Daniel a simple so called common duck made into a stunning image, excellent.

[Troy Lim]

Awesome high key shot!

[David Cowling]

Simply stunning. I am a great fan of mallard ducks. They may be common, but caught in the right light they are still some of the prettiest waterfowl around. Well done! If I may ask a question a little out of context - I see that you are usung a 7D and shot with an ISO of 800, I am struggling to control the noise on my 7D above 400 ISO, did you have to carry out much post capture noise reduction in this image or does the fact that it is a white background negate any sensor noise?

[gail bisson]

WOW Daniel. This is one of my all time favorite shot of yours.( and I don't usually like high key!)
Love the composition and the perfect reflection is to die for.
You have taken an ordinary bird and made it a very special bird.
Superb eye to "see" this.
Just love it!
Gail

[Joseph Przybyla]

I don't know how you could improve this image... very nice vision and composition.

[Mike Poole]

I always enjoy seeing 'common' subjects shot in an interesting way, and this is a good example of thinking outside the box a bit. Excellent work

[Grace Scalzo]

Artistic in vision and execution. Lovely and thanks for sharing.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dan, one of the clearest reflections Ive seen. Very well captured.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

What a magnificent image, Daniel. How great it was that all the conditions came together including the perfect head turn. Very well done.



Geoffrey

[James Salywoda]

Stunning high key image Daniel.

[Lyle Gruby]

You've got to be kidding me. This is just fantastic. I think your artistic vision and execution are he best parts about the image.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Simply stunning. I am a great fan of mallard ducks. They may be common, but caught in the right light they are still some of the prettiest waterfowl around. Well done! If I may ask a question a little out of context - I see that you are usung a 7D and shot with an ISO of 800, I am struggling to control the noise on my 7D above 400 ISO, did you have to carry out much post capture noise reduction in this image or does the fact that it is a white background negate any sensor noise?

Thank you David, I agree with you about mallards!

No NR was applied to this image, and yes, you are correct that the all-white BG negates any noise there...otherwise I do apply some to the BGs (and oof FGs). I've never used any NR on the subjects themselves (nor their perches/leaves/flowers that are also within dof). If you are interested I had written a guest blog on Artie's site that deals with 7D files:

http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2012/...d-image-files/

[David Salem]

Good eye for seeing this one and getting yourself lined up for the shot. This Looks Great and I like the look back pose and the solid eye contact. The reflection is as good as it gets and you couldn't get a frame like this seeing the feet and legs without the layer of ice.
Sweet frame Daniel!!

[Jim Neiger]

Absolutely stunning, Daniel!

[David Cowling]

Thank you David, I agree with you about mallards!

No NR was applied to this image, and yes, you are correct that the all-white BG negates any noise there...otherwise I do apply some to the BGs (and oof FGs). I've never used any NR on the subjects themselves (nor their perches/leaves/flowers that are also within dof). If you are interested I had written a guest blog on Artie's site that deals with 7D files:

http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2012/...d-image-files/

Thank you for the link Daniel, it is going to be of great value to me. David

[Bob Smith]

A WOW image Daniel--you've done a magnificent job of seeing this coming and then waiting for just the right moment and getting it with just the right settings.