On display

[Vaughn Larsen]

Wood duck in a reflection of red and gold leaves. October 2020. Sunrise light hits a small grove of different trees on the west bank of this small pond causing an assortment of colors to form in the waters reflection. This year only 2 male wood ducks visited.

Nikon Z6 500mm f4
1/500 sec f8 ISO 2500 exp comp +.67

[Randy Stout]

Vaughn

Spectacular colors. Soft light showing the full range of shades in the plumage. Some mild noise in the background, which is a bit unexpected in a Z6 at this ISO. Feels like it needs a small clockwise rotation. Framing is a bit tight, might try a looser version if you have the canvas.

Cheers

Randy

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Vaughn, I think Randy's comments and suggestions are spot on. Wonderful colors both background and bird. Thank you for sharing.

[David Roach]

Wow on the colors and details. Maybe a tad more on the sides but I love it as is. TFS

[Vaughn Larsen]

Wow on the colors and details. Maybe a tad more on the sides but I love it as is. TFS

thanks David,

Hi Vaughn, I think Randy's comments and suggestions are spot on. Wonderful colors both background and bird. Thank you for sharing.

thanks Joseph, appreciate the feedback.

Vaughn

Spectacular colors. Soft light showing the full range of shades in the plumage. Some mild noise in the background, which is a bit unexpected in a Z6 at this ISO. Feels like it needs a small clockwise rotation. Framing is a bit tight, might try a looser version if you have the canvas.

Cheers

Randy

Randy thanks for the detailed feedback. I do see the noise now that you mention it. And the potential tilt, will put that on grid to check.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Vaughn .... " Velvia on steroids " and I like it .
I am ok with the " in your face " crop ....
Personally I might add a tiny bit of exposure to the darker range to open up slightly and would address the noise .

Cool shot , TFS Andreas

[Brian Sump]

Vaughn, I thought you processed this one very nicely in terms of exposure and detail. The color palette is out of this world!

You got some great advice above and I agree wholeheartedly. A fantastic canvas and with a couple minor tweaks it will really rock!

[Vaughn Larsen]

Hi Vaughn .... " Velvia on steroids " and I like it .
I am ok with the " in your face " crop ....
Personally I might add a tiny bit of exposure to the darker range to open up slightly and would address the noise .

Cool shot , TFS Andreas

As always - much appreciated Andreas.

[Arthur Morris]

Mostly good stuff above. Spectacular colors on the duck and the reflection. For me, this one is too tight all around, a real "man-crop."

Can you post a JPEG that shows the full frame capture?

Randy is right on the need for rotation. Birds will pretty much keep their eyes perfectly level. In Photoshop, I used the Ruler Tool to draw a line between the bottoms of the two eyes and then went Image > Rotate > Arbitrary. That showed the need for 2.41 degrees of clockwise rotation. Or perhaps a bit less if you like.

The technique above is one of the many dozens of great Photoshop tips in Digital Basics II.

See most blog posts to learn about Topaz DeNoise AI; it would have eliminated the noise in the water.

with love, artie

[Vaughn Larsen]

Thanks so much for the suggestions. Here is an unedited jpeg. Love the eye level tip.