I know this sounds like a lame excuse but I am so swamped with work I just can't seem to find any time to comment or post pictures these days. I hope to be able to join on a more regular basis soon. Until then this is from a little while ago. I was out on a shoot with Jasper, trying to get some duck shots for our portfolio. The ducks where packed together in a pond close to some scattered houses due to the extremely cold weather we were allowed to come close for a change. This one was taken while the first light hit one of the houses in the back which reflected in the water causing the orange colors, while the bird itself wasn't lit yet, which I thought made this special. Hope you think so too.
Canon EOS 50D 1/250 f5.6 Manual
ISO 640
Canon 300 mm L USM F2.8
M501HSV G1325
A lovely bird. The color on the ice is nice. Bird is sharp, good head position for a preening bird. In general I like the composition, maybe a smidge more at the bottom.
I wish the head and eye were a bit brighter, it just doesn't pop out for me.
Good preening pose with the head at least parallel to the sensor. I like the orange and blue surroundings. Although I would normally prefer a lower angle I'm sure that doing so would have negated somewhat those cool oranges. I also like the sprinkling of ice on the feathers. Like Randy I'm wishing for a bit more room below. I do like the effect you have here, but I'm thinking some flash would have done wonders for this image.
A bit too cool for my taste buddy, the chest shows a lot of cyan and blue...a bit too much if you ask me. A difficult image to control...as if you'd warm it up a tiny bit, you increase that orange a lot. Perhaps you could give it a try using layermasks. Regarding the composition, I agree it needs some space at the bottom (or less at the top) to balance it more. If you'd do this I'm sure you have a wonderful shot. I love the intimate pose here.
Thanks for the comments and good suggestions people!
I agree about the blueish tones and composition. Like Jasper pointed out I had to decrease the saturation in the orange water as it became too hot during post processing. I didn't do this selectively which left the bird with too much blueish tones and too little yellow ones. I'll definitly remedy this ASAP. Compositionally I will see how this looks with a little less room on top and will repost a picture tonight.
Preening Pintail
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