I haven't posted in a while, so thought I would put this one up for discussion and feedback.
This Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata) and his wife dropped in to the ornamental lake in a local park but didn't stay around. The are an introduced breed that have gone feral, but this one is tagged, so managed by someone.
Later I spotted them in the woods above a small pond and managed to get this shot. I was using the 500 with a 1.4 extension, and as I had been shooting in bright sunshine immediately before, I was in manual and all my settings had to be changed at once! From a bracket of 4 shots, this first one is the sharpest - before he started moving and flying off.
The shapes and colours are very attractive and I liked the contrast with the mossy old willow branches. But the shapes of the branches are very dominant, so difficult to find a satisfying composition. Comments would be welcome.
Canon 1d MkIII, 500f/4L + 1.4 (700 mm)
1/50 sec at f/5.6, ISO 800, Gitzo tripod and Mongoose head
PP with LR2 and CS4 - cloned out some distracting twigs, cropped and sharpened.
Hi Gerald - I love these birds. Great composition, love the tree, bird position very nice, tack sharp. My only suggestion is that some of the whites may be clipped - perhaps the white areas on the head?
Cheers
Gail
That is one pretty duck and difficult to expose, have very few with detail in the white feathers, all taken in the shade.
Would have like seeing the duck a little to the right of the frame clearing the tree. PS wise you could darken the image with curves a bit for more pop and can tone down the whites. Just a bit since they tend to get a strange white look when the change is a lot !! .... soft light is the key for any of these !!!
Hi Gail and Al, thanks for your comments. Agree that it would have been preferable to have the duck a little to the right - clear of the tree behind - something for my next visit there! I'm a bit confused over getting the image to "pop" as I have actually brightened it up a little to bring out the colours - he was actually in pretty heavy shade which accounts for the very low shutter speed. All the whites seem to be there but maybe on the head there is loss of some white detail with DOF.
Mandarin in a tree
