Female Mallard

[Juan Tolentino]

This image was taken this morning at my local lake in Miami Lakes Florida with the Nikon D500 (crop sensor) and AF-S Nikkor 200-500mm 1-5.6E ED VR
ISO 250
f5.6
1/2500
500mm
Manual Mode
Processed in LR and PS.
Crop around 33%

All C & C's will be greatly appreciated.


Thanks for looking

JT

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the pose you got from this duck, the way it is standing in the water and seemingly keeping a watch out for you. I love the scalloped feathers. Habitat is OK. Seems like there is lots of noise for ISO 250...did you need to lighten the darks much? I also see some areas of the BG that are noiseless relative to other areas.

[Juan Tolentino]

Thank you Daniel,

Yes, I raised the shadows in the back of the duck, also I darken the background since it was really bright. Probably should apply noise reduction after that. This was my first shot and didn't have time to change the settings to expose more to the right, pretty sure I'll have another opportunity. Thank you for your input, really appreciated.

Do you think the repost looks better ?

Juan

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yes, I do think the repost is better, but I do get the sense the BG may have had some blur applies to it in post? (e.g. Gaussian Blur). She's a beautiful duck!

[Juan Tolentino]

Daniel,

Thank you for the advice, here's the original...I didn't add blur, I guess just the way it looks when apply noise reduction. Unfortunate that the duck moved when I was checking the first burst and didn't have time to change the settings. Hopefully next time!

Thanks