Preaching To The Choir

[Julie Kenward]

This was the first time in weeks I've seen any mallards around at our local lakes so I took a group portrait. I wanted more separation between the subjects but at least I got decent head angles on most of them.

My question is...does it hurt the image that they had their protective eye coverings up (white eyes) or is this acceptable in bird photography? It cuts down on the "eye contact" factor but I really had trouble getting them to open up today...maybe because it was so cold?

Canon 40D, EF 70-200mm f/4L
f5.6 @ 1.250th, ISO 400
Manual mode, auto wb, pattern metering
Handheld, morning light, shaded
Processed in ACR & CS4; levels adjustment, small crop, used quick mask to deepen water but leave birds natural.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I'm hesitant to generalize, in this case the closed eyes are distracting since some bird's eyes are open and one even vocalizing.