Mallard with Ducklings

[Phil Ertel]

I captured this image at approximately 7:30AM on 12-Jul-2008 at Duke Gardens in Durham North Carolina. I was closely watching a Great Blue Heron fishing when I noticed this mother mallard with her ducklings. She was sheparding them quickly across a corner of the pond (no it is not square). I had time to click off two images before they disappeared in the deep shadows of the overhanging trees. I chose to include the mother to show her driving her ducklings. This meant cutting her off just behind the head as I could not include them all in frame and I did not have time to change my set up.

What I like about this image is overall feel, the colors of the water and the little drops of water on the backs of ducklings.

While I would have liked a greater depth of focus as all ducks are not as sharp as I would like; I was afraid of motion blur if I slowed the shutter speed (they were moving fairly fast). The first few ducklings were also starting to swim slightly away from me.

Does the in camera crop work?
Do you think the piano crop was the best choice for this image?
Does shallow depth of focus kill the image?

Thanks for all your helpful comments and critiques. Hopefully you can teach old dogs new tricks and I will continue to learn.

Regards,

Phil

Specifications:
Camera: 40D
Lens: Canon EF500mm f4L IS USM + 1.4x
Exposure: 1/640s at 5.6
IS0: 800
Flash: Did not fire
Tripod
Mongoose 3.5

Converted in ACR:
Cropped (full frame width)
Tempature 6050 degK
Slight reduction in tint -3
Increased exposure +0.6
Slight recovery
Curves
Capture sharpening

CS3
Cleaned up a few bits out of the water (Spot Healing)
Selectively increased contrast to birds
Worked on the eyes using quick making per APTATs
Selectively ran noise reduction on the background
Resized for the Web
Selectively sharpen the birds

[George DeCamp]

Hey Phil!

I think you critiqued yourself very well!

I think you could use a little more room on the bottom here. Also the image seems to need a counterclockwise rotation so they don't look like they are swimming up hill. A littlre more room on the bottom would let you accomplish the rotation.

As far as the shallow DOF gees well it sure would have been better stopped down a little.When you use a converter try to stop down a little anyway...for instance if minimum aperture is 5.6 as in your case, go to f8. This will help you a little with the sharpness of the combo.

You know I think you still made a nice image. Try the suggestion above for more room and straighten it.

[Phil Ertel]

Thanks George for the quick response and comments. Thanks for the suggestion on stopping down when using the converter. I will have to give it try. I feel a bit silly in that I did not notice the counter clock wise rotation. I corrected using the ruler tools. I add a half inch on the bottom as suggested.

What do you think, any better?

Thanks Much,

Phil

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi Phil - what a sweet image! I like your repost better I think. I generally find that working at F8 rather than F5.6 gives me better focusing whilst still retaining OOF backgrounds.
Regards, Nicki

[George DeCamp]

Thanks George for the quick response and comments. Thanks for the suggestion on stopping down when using the converter. I will have to give it try. I feel a bit silly in that I did not notice the counter clock wise rotation. I corrected using the ruler tools. I add a half inch on the bottom as suggested.

What do you think, any better?

Thanks Much,

Phil

Hey Phil!

You nailed it and now one sweet image!!!! :D

ps: Don't feel silly, i still happens to me! :o

George

[Harold Davis]

hi phil! great repost!!! do you ever get over to yates mill pond. wondering what kind of action that place gets in the summertime.

[Katie Rupp]

Beautiful and very sweet image, Phil.