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Thread: Mandarin drake

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    Default Mandarin drake

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    Huge thanks for all the help given here and previous comments on past images.It is unreal how much I have learned here even though I have a massive way to go and have barely scratched post yet the amount learnt is incredible for me THANKYOU


    Not a native here, but we do have some small feral populations one of which resides in the forest of Dean where this was taken. Shot is against the light just before sunset with a backdrop of shaded trees providing the darker background for him to bounce of. It's sort of wonderful for me seeing ducks up trees as our native species by and large don't do this,these are also hole nesters,one day I'd love to catch them leaving the nest that must be an astonishing sight how they don't hurt themselves at DO I find astonishing. We have many alien species here ,this must be amongst the most stunning and I know of no negative impact,so for me a complete joy to spend some time with. Being so photogenic I took many frames but these few where the light was against me are the most pleasing to me. Ha I all but got my much hoped for evening lull,where the wind oft slows at this time of day giving a much smoother water surface than earlier on

    Processed in dpp a slight crop for composition and note to self to be MORE careful on framing a silly stupid mistake this shouldn't be cropped ! I guess all will say that bright spot must go, above the tail a backlit midge I suppose. POV as low as I could get. Brought back exposure to -0.33picture style: fine detail,black and white points brought in in gamma and a bit of NR. highlights pulled back by 4 maybe too much but those white bits are tricky to get right, for me at least. I'm unsure if I have completely blown them.
    Canon 1div 300f2.8 is ext 1.4iii

    TV1/1250

    AV f4

    iso 2000

    take care

    Stu

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    Wow fantastic duck, I have never seen one like this! Nice colors, and back lighting, this one would be a good one for this months avian forum theme (back lit or silhouettes) background looks good, I would remove the spot above the duck on the right. ~MT

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    Hey Stu, This was a breed I kept a few years ago. Do you know, I haven't one single picture of them. They had to be kept in an aviary all the time. I had one young female escape and she was immediately set upon by all the locals. I was unable to save her.

    I really like the back lit sail feather and POV is good for me. I know it's best to keep as many pixels as you can, but cropping, I believe, is still a necessary evil, at least for me. I had a play in PS with your image and think a curves adjustment layer brightened things up a bit. Do you have PS Stu? The white head looks a bit dull, but I don't think you have blown all the highlights. They have such fine feathering around their eye. A little dodge and burn on the ripples bought them to life as well. Let's see the painter Stu!

    Keep them coming!

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    I have seen this duck many times before but for whatever reasons never had my camera with me. Such a beautiful species. I agree with Glennie's assessment; I would brighten up the head a little bit and probably crop in a little bit more. Thanks for sharing this photo with us, Stu!

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    Very nice! Lovely subject in good light, lovely sharpness and detail, good reflection! Agree with taking out the spot, and I'd crop a little from the top and left. Whites have gone a bit too gray.

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    Hiya guys thanks for all the replies and kind words,Michael thanks for the heads up,I haven't posted much in avian( well, not anywhere near enough anywhere really,time is so pressing)) ironically the only one is was mandarins,super beautiful aren't they. But I do have other images from this encounter and really like to try and support the themes if I can,I must try and make it happen. yes I thought that light spot would have to go,thanks for your time Mike !!

    Glennie,just off topic for a mo,spotted your calls and your web site,very cool mate. we were silly into calls for years. Mandarins are so stunning I think captivity is maybe why they are now so widespread,are they native to OZ I can't remember am shattered?? I'm surprised they hadn't been blocked from coming in actually. Ah mate sorry for your loss on your little lass Apparently it was hard to get the ducklings feeding in the early days, they wouldn't feed,the trigger seemed to be that drop I mentioned,I'd image with them being bred in captivity for so long now that might no longer be the case. Sad there are no pictures,but hey mate it's so cool having watched you grow as a photographer,your progress makes me hungry mate!!

    No PS yet Glennie I'm dying to get stuck in but time is just clobbering everything sadly it is how it is,but hopefully soon.The one thing I am managing is to get out here and there which is great,as I need and want practice . Glennie my exposure was much brighter,but I was digging to try and darken things a bit to highlight the drake's lighting,I don't think i've done this well but had a shot at it. I am so aware now how much I want to selectively treat different elements of an image,but I knew this was going to be a slow road . Yes i'm the same Glennie a long long way of being able to frame a picture to my satisfaction so cropping is essential for me too. I just know in this case I could have done better by moving focal points,which if I had of got my levels right would have removed the need to crop,just airing frustrations at my ineptitude

    Thanks for the time taken and the tips Glennie,I'm hugely frustrated at my life let alone my photography progress but my camera skills are improving a bit,with time i'll get to post.

    Adhika thanks for your thoughts and go get them bro!! I'd love to see some of your images of this stunning little fella

    take care all many thanks

    Stu

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    Quote Originally Posted by Diane Miller View Post
    Very nice! Lovely subject in good light, lovely sharpness and detail, good reflection! Agree with taking out the spot, and I'd crop a little from the top and left. Whites have gone a bit too gray.
    Diane,my humble apologies,I didn't see this post and I haven't yet got to your other reply which I did spot (re my specs/glasses).

    Diane, have the whites gone grey because of my atempts to darken this to make the subject work against the background? thanks on the sharpness i'm worried at times about sharpness,it's a niggle that I am not yet consistently evaluating this facet correctly or consistently producing sharp shots. Both facets I need to work on !!!

    Diane I've probably said this before but do bare with me I so want to delve into your expertise with post processing, my short nine hour day was the shortest worked this year,I can barely evalutate what i'm actually making time to take at the moment let alone anything else. but at least i'm getting out there and each time it's just that little bit easier as slow but sure my actual hands on experience with the camera are getting faster focal points are being moved quicker etc.

    Mate cheers for all you do for us learners,I learn so much from reading here !!

    take care

    Stu

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    The main suspect for whites going gray is going too far with the highlights slider in DPP.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Diane Miller View Post
    The main suspect for whites going gray is going too far with the highlights slider in DPP.
    Ha you are brilliant,highlights slider down 4,more than I normally use Diane. I find these tools so powerful I don't normally go so far,but was fixated on trying to tame things,lesson learnt ,thanks so much for commenting Diane

    take care

    Stu

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