The Return

[Ken Lassman]

Merritt Island NWR, FL

Nikon D300
Nikon 300/2.8 VR lense
ISO 400
F/5.6 @ 1/4000
Manual, Hand Held


Continuing from my previous post (Quack Quack).....I was right about the female Mallard return. As I watched her circle I checked my previous shot and saw that she looked a little dark and the background seemed bright. I knew that if she came back to the same pond that she would be touching down about 50 feet to my left, the background was busier than the previous shot and that she would be coming in at high speed as opposed to her take off. So I changed my settings and was hoping to catch her before she hit the brakes. What surprised me about the picture was that it appears like it is 3D (as if I knew what what I was doing :confused: ). I know that the lighting on her head could be better...blame it on the sun....ha ha.
Anxiously awaiting critiques and comments....negative or positive. I have so much to learn. Thanks.

[arash_hazeghi]

Ken,
Does have a 3D look!!!
quick try, ran NR on BG to smooth it out a bit, HS and slight sharpening on the bird. Can get much better quality starting from RAW. BTW best is when wings are full down or up, put your camera in burst mode and take advantage of 8fps to capture the best wing position ;)

sorry watermark got blurred too

[Ken Lassman]

Thanks Arash,
I did shoot at 8 fps....started shooting before she was in front of me. The earlier pics, although wing position was up and down were not as detailed (honestly they were terrible). This was the best one before she got by me....I was just excited that I nailed the shot and that my practicing is finally showing results. As far as blurring my name/watermark....NO PROBLEM....with so much more to learn it looks almost as blurry as my brain...:D

[Alfred Forns]

Agree with all points by Arash and excellent advice !!!

Your biggest enemy was the strong light and needed another third stop of light (less), I know the shadows will suffer but best to get the highlights.

Tech wise not sure if your camera is set for 12 or 14 bit? makes a huge difference with the shooting speed, for action I used to set mine to 12 so I could fire at 8fps. Will aid in getting the ideal wing position!! Your doing well !!!

[Hilary Hann]

I always get a thrill when a BIF is sharp and in the frame so well done. I found the background a bit busy so like the re post. The fact that you gave some thought to what the bird was going to do before taking the shot augurs well for future images. Well done.

[Lance Peters]

Nice work Arash - excellent advice from Arash and AL - and no better way to learn than to work on other peoples images.
Looking forward to seeing more ken - Doing well!!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Ken, good comments above. An additional comment would be to take out the white line coming down from the birds wing...

[Troy Lim]

Agree with all points by Arash and excellent advice !!!

Your biggest enemy was the strong light and needed another third stop of light (less), I know the shadows will suffer but best to get the highlights.

Tech wise not sure if your camera is set for 12 or 14 bit? makes a huge difference with the shooting speed, for action I used to set mine to 12 so I could fire at 8fps. Will aid in getting the ideal wing position!! Your doing well !!!

I never shot at 14bit but my friend told me to do so. He said that the D3s will not affect the fps shooting at 14.
Is it true? Of course I will try it this weekend.

The head of the duck is a bit hot. Often time, with eagles, big contrast, I rather get the head close to good, just a tad overexposed, because I know I can brighten up the shadow area easier than rescuing the highlights.
Maybe it is just me. How about you guys?

It is a great image after the NR applied.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

I never shot at 14bit but my friend told me to do so. He said that the D3s will not affect the fps shooting at 14.
Is it true? Of course I will try it this weekend.

Troy,

Greetings. 14 bit won't effect the continuous speed for the D3s (but will for the OP's D300, which needs a grip for the better speed and 12 bit for the fastest speed).

Cheers,

-Yamo-

[Troy Lim]

Troy,

Greetings. 14 bit won't effect the continuous speed for the D3s (but will for the OP's D300, which needs a grip for the better speed and 12 bit for the fastest speed).

Cheers,

-Yamo-

Thank you Yamo.
D700 needs the same thing to get the 8pfs. Used to shoot with 8AAs, very heavy. Now I use EL-4a, lighter and lasts a lot longer.

[Declan Troy]

Ken,

FWIW your duck is a Mottled Duck and not only that she is a he. The bright yellow bill narrows this bird down to a male Mottled or Mexican duck. You don't have Mexican Ducks in Florida but you can tell that this isn't one since it doesn't have a white leading edge to the speculum (the bluish wing patch), only a white trailing edge.

[Myer Bornstein]

Nice capture, I wopuld like less light on the bright potion of the head.

I get about 3000 images on my D300s with using the EL-4a in the grip

[Tom Graham]

Nice, and it does have a 3D look to it.
Re wing position, it is gliding in for landing. This is correct position for the wings during a glide.
My only very minor suggestion is to darken up or clone out the slanted white line coming from below into the wing tip.
Tom

[Ken Lassman]

Thanks Declan for the identity clarification...at least I got the "duck" part right :). And also my thanks to all of you for your input and suggestions....I really appreciate your help and knowledge as I continue to learn.