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Thread: Wood duck portrait

  1. #1
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    Default Wood duck portrait

    Not alot of shooting opportunities on my side recently. I had the "terrific" idea of tearing my ACL while playing hockey... And kneeling/crawling without one of these is definitely not what I would call "enjoyable". Will need surgery 3-6 months from now, then 4-6 months of rehab. 2015 is not off to a good start...

    At least I'll have plenty of time to catch up on the backlog! I have images from 6 months ago that are still untouched...

    This was shot on my 2nd (and last...) session since I treated myself with a 500mm f/4 IS I after selling my good old 100-400. On both occasions, I had birds coming in too close, sometimes within MFD. So I ended up missing my 100-400. Irony...

    But it gave me an opportunity to try something I had never tried: portraits! Although I struggled with composition at first, I think I got used to it rather quickly. This one is my favorite from the session. Lighting was uneven due to branches and trees but the duck gave me the right head angle just in the right spot. Somehow I wish I had open up a bit to f/7.1 or f/8 to get a bit more DOF.

    Arash's work finally convinced me to give DPP a try. To my own surprise, the difference is indeed striking compared to what I got from LR. I think I will have to experiment with it for a while before I get comfortable, but so far, I love it.

    And looking at the result, I think I'll be doing just fine without my old 100-400.

    Canon 7D, 500mm IS I f/4 + 1.4x II @ f/5.6, 1/1000. On tripod.

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    Certainly great birds to use for portrait sessoins. I find the bill,head side etc perfect but for some reason the eye seems out. It may be just my gear, The blurred edge of the top of the head is a little off puttng but thats realy nit picking. Most of my shots have OOF bits but in a clse up it seems to stand out more. Still a nice shot any way. I suppose the lens plus a converter at 5.6 is not going to give you a lot to play with.
    Good stuff.
    JohnR

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    Nice detail. Could use more DOF and I'd be tempted to rotate CW for a stronger comp.

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    Wonderful light in this one. It would have ben nice to have a bit more of the bird in focus. Also I think you have brightened the eye a bit too much because it seems noisy and unnatural to me.

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    Super Moderator Daniel Cadieux's Avatar
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    That's a tough start to 2015 for sure. Hang in there, it'll be better before you know it!

    Nice portrait, something I love to do. Wood Ducks certainly are a gorgeous subject to do such imagery. I think just a bit more below would have been nice IMO. Good details. As for the eye, the reds look just the way they should, but I would touch up the reflections in the pupil to clean it up. Otherwise, all good.

    Congrats on the new lens, it opens up a whole lot of opportunities!

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    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    You're going to love the 500! Very sharp and a solid exposure. I like the idea of some CW rotation and additional DOF (the correct terminology is stopping down; opening up produces a larger aperture with shallower DOF). Good luck with the knee rehab!
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