Mallard

[Jay Sheinfield]

cloned a few blades of grass, and did some feather repair on the head. He was sidelit and did some shadow lightening.

Nikon DS3
ISO 800
1/2000 sec @ f/9
1000mm

Comments welcome..........

[Mark Young]

Lovely image Jay. Nice composition and low angle, I like the pose of the bird here. You could run a couple of passes of sharpening/USM to sharpen it up a bit, though it looks like your focus point may have been on the shoulder area, and removing the smaller of the 2 catchlights would also improve the image.

[John Chardine]

This image has an interesting look about it Jay- certainly a dreamy feel. I like the BG and water. I agree with Mark that some sharpening around the head might be effective. Perhaps you could tone down the highlight on the neck with some burning in. I am trying to imagine what the image would look like if the OOF green on the left was not there. Nicely done though. Mallards are not the easiest subjects because of that iridescent green head.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Jay - does have a nice painterly feel to it - agree with the above comments re sharpening. Could try a linear burn layer on the neck.
Like the low shooting angle and the colours look good.

[Julie Kenward]

Jay, I really like your composition and the pose on this one. It does have a beautiful painterly feel to it - almost a dreamy quality.

Toning down the bright area on the neck and the head sharpening will certainly take this up another notch. Really lovely overall.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Thanks to all for your feedback........................will do some sharpening and some toning down work.

Jay

[Jay Sheinfield]

re-post...............had to do some cloning.........

Jay

[Arthur Morris]

I much prefer the repost especially that you chose to eliminate the neck scuzz :) It does appear to need about 1 degree of CCW rotation.... Draw a line with the Ruler Tool through and parallel to the line where the body enters the water and then hit Image/Rotate/Arbitrary. :)

[Jay Sheinfield]

agree on the ccw rotation, will do.

jay

[Arthur Morris]

Good man. I always liked students who listen :)