Mallard reflection

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

40D. 400 f/5.6 + 1.4x ( 560mm...man....I love even writing that:-) iso 640. 1/320. f/9. exp. comp +2/3. Shot from car window. I dont have a beanbag yet. ordered one yesterday.

Its a big crop and I did not want to make it square. Do you think there is too much space above. I, for some reason, am happy with this crop. USM on bird. NR on BG and FG( not on reflection) There is some NR that I missed to do...to the left and right of the bird.

All critiques welcome.

KD

[Mital Patel]

truly fantastic creation KD. superb image. i wish you to run a round of NR on bg .. rest you have nailed it.

[Arthur Morris]

Love the dead-straight stare and the COMP is perfect for my taste. The head looks a tad noisy as if it has been lightened too much. You might wish to remove the buff spot in the reflection.

[Kiran Poonacha]

loved the angle, the reflection adds well, nice comp and details.. congrats..

[Rohan Kamath]

the composition works nicely for me here... and the reflection makes it better...
we never get this close to ducks here in Pune as I'm sure you remember all too well, so, such images are a treat to watch...

-Cheers,
Rohan
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[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Artie, I will go back to the RAW file and look into the head again. Probably pulled contrast tab too much to the left...or used the shadow slider in DPP.

Rohan....yes...Pune is not a good spot for duck photos. Not all ducks let you get close here as well. Mallards are very common here. And the ones that live and breed in urban ponds are not camera shy. But actually, this one was for some reason. Hence, had to shoot from car. Mallards are an opportunity and a challenge. I try to do something else with them( reflections, backlit, side lit, different shooting angles, different poses) and the good thing is that I can because they are so common here.

KD