Blue Wing Teal Drakes with a hen

[Michael Thompson]

I saw these Ducks circle the pond before landing in some cattails on the far side.
Bloomington MN
Canon 7D Canon 100-400ll
1/1600 second
400 iso f/5.6

[Diane Miller]

A nice formation with lovely color! The shallow DOF makes the BG pleasing, with the ducks standing out very nicely, but it may not have caught all the ducks. The one in the lower center looks a bit soft, but hard to tell at this size, and not a huge problem. I'd try a rotation to level the "horizon" -- always a quandary with a water line that's at an angle to you, but without other clues in the image it may be better to straighten it.

[Glennie Passier]

Michael. Love the colours and the formation. At f5.6 I think you have done well to get so many birds in focus. I agree with Diane about the rotation. Apart from the darker line at the top to line up, I would also have a look at rotating til the reeds are a littler straighter Some very minor spots I would clean up under the ducks and on the LHS reeds. I would also consider trying to lighten the darker mass under the top most birds' bill. Was this a big crop?

[Michael Thompson]

Thanks for the feedback! I see how the cattails are not quite level, good catch, also the spots in the water underneath and the dark area behind the top birds head. The Hen is slightly softer, I could remove it, but I think that takes away from the story of the springtime activities Crop, size? I am not sure what make a crop big, I cropped some of the water on the bottom and some from the left side mainly. ~ MT

[Andrew Harrell]

Michael: I loved the teal color showing on the birds (and thus how they get their name!); I have some water shots of these birds and you just can't see the teal like you have captured here. What I would give for a BIF shot of one of these guys up close showing the wing colors off like they are! Nicely done!

As for crop size, take a look at my alligator post for a before-and-after crop. I would think most would call that a pretty aggressive crop, where I'm cutting a big chunk of the photo away making the head look bigger, but in doing so I probably lose IQ/sharpness. And thus the ever-present call to me to "get closer!!!"


AP

[Diane Miller]

How big a crop is too big depends on the initial (full frame) IQ viewed at 100% -- a tack sharp well-exposed image can take more crop. No way to quantify it beyond that. You're the judge!

[Michael Thompson]

AP, if I find a camera on the shore sometime, and the last pic on the card is a nice close up of a gator,It looks like I might have me a new camera!