Mallards in habitat

[Indranil Sircar]

I am attempting to create few habitat images and this is from a while ago. The image was taken late in the day. The mallards were cautious of my presence and I had to move away after taking few of the images. The settings were -

40D, EF 70-200 F4 IS + 1.4x @ 280mm
1/400 sec, f/5.6 Mode: Av Metering: Evaluative Exp comp: +2/3 ISO: 400

Used few adjustment layers for levels and saturation, cropped and applied a tiny round of nr. Applied usm on the web version. Your c&c will be appreciated.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Indranil - nice to see them both together, sweet light and the HA looks pretty good on both.
Would have wished for a little separation between the two birds perhaps and might get rid of the reeds sticking out of the back ones back area.
Not really enough habitat here for my personal tastes to qualify for a habitat image. Birds are the stars of the show!
Keep em coming.

[Maurice Allen]

Growing up in the duck hunting capital of the world, I would say the habitat is great. Image quality is very nice also.

[Julie Kenward]

Indranil, the first thing I notices was the lighting - beautiful! I do think a lower angle (if that were possible) would have strengthened this a bit more. I don't mind that the ducks are together because they seem very natural and you did get a decent HA and catch lights in both. I do wish there had been a bit more separation between the female and the large pieces of grass in the BG. Overall, I like the image.

[Bob Miller]

Nice light and image quality is outstanding! I too would like to see a bit more habitat!

[Indranil Sircar]

Lance, Julie, Maurice, Bob, thanks for all the feedback. Appreciate it a lot. Thanks for the guidance that it may not be enough of the habitat; something I will try to incorporate in future. This is the original image without removing any of the elements. Here is a new version without the tall grasses in the back and left....