Solo

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Canon 40D & 100-400MM L
HH
1/320 (cloudy day)
f/5.6
ISO=400

LRII---> CS4

Rainy/cloudy day, I was trying to get a low light Mallard landing, dark on gray. To show some fight positions.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Jeff - good on you for trying something different - however have to say as presented - this one just doesnt do it for me.
For my personal tastes - its all a bit dark with nothing really grabbing and holding my attention. Maybe if the clouds had a bit more drama about them..

Intresting to see what others think :)

[Desmond Chan]

It may have been better if the mallard had better wing position and it were at the upper left hand part of the photo. Yeah, it does look a bit dark as presented :)

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Jeff,
I can appreciate what you were set out to do, I actually like the concept...:) A few points to consider for this one...I would recommend moving your duck to the upper left 1/3 sector of the frame, and selective sharpen him a tad more to make the silhouette razor sharp...:D Looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Mike Milicia]

Agree with comments so far.
Would add that I might consider darkening the duck to a pure silhouette and selectively lightening
the BG a bit.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Like what you were trying to do here as well. Techs covered. Do like the free fall look of the mallard.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

I agree, I love dark on grey and wanted to show the simple solo landing positions on a dark BG (did not achieve my objective). I agree with the comments just too plain, nothing to get excited about. No prob,..it has been raining here for 7 days and I just had to get out and try. Probably should not have posted this image, l need to try and post just my best efforts, this was not one.

I will continue to try and capture a gray BG and a dark/Silo duck in a landing mode.

I must confess, I like the bottom LHC thing. I will find a way to use the negative space to my advantage.

Gus you are right, the subject needed to be sharper, good advise from you and everyone - so it goes.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Jeff

Would agree you need some changes here !! One would be the suggestion of placing the duck more to the top left. Also would try to make the image with different bg .... these silhouettes work better with colorful bg to help them out ... and for the icing on the cake try your flash !!!

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Thanks Al, great advise.

What I am after is, a gray BG with dark/Silo Mallard(S) with landing gear down, I will get it.

Must confess, I like the LRHC crop, guess I am in the minority here - so it goes.

The more I look at the picture, the more I like it, needs some tweaks. Love the simplicity - I will keep on working on this concept.

[Ben Egbert]

Just getting in here to see the comments. I have never liked silhouettes, probably an aquired taste, so I am working to aquire it, here.

Seems to me that with just one bird, it needs to fill more of the frame and be crisper. I also see some white patch, shouldnt it be all black?

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Ben,

I do not like silo's that are totally black, opting to show some of the image in my pictures. In my mind, this was to be an image with only one subject, hence the title "Solo". The negative space was to add to the loneliness of flight theme. The image was not sharp enough, you are correct. In this picture, I did not convey my message and the picture could have been much stronger - I will get it right soon.