King of the Pond

[Julie Kenward]

This is the big male duck that rules a small pond of geese and ducks near my home. There's an embankment around one side that allows you to get almost eye level with the ducks as they swim by and yesterday he came so close I almost couldn't fit him in the barrel of my 400mm. He's a big boy - even holds his own against the Canada Geese.

Canon 40D, EF 400mm f/5.6L
f 5/6 @ 1/250th, ISO 400
Manual mode, pattern metering
Handheld (sitting down, arm braced on leg)
Natural light / pre-dusk
Processed in ACR & CS4; Lightened whites, curves adjustment to the eye, cleaned up his beak, very small crop and sharpening

[Ben_Sadd]

Julie,

Very sharp with good eye contact. You have nice details in the white on the head. I think I would prefer a more space on the right if possible.

The angle doesn't bother me in terms of the head. I think the way it is cocked by the bird makes it pleasing. However, I find the strong oof body that is in the image due to the shoot angle a little distracting.

[Rachel Hollander]

Jules - I too would prefer a little more room on the rhs and find the oof body slightly distracting. I like the patterns in the water in the bg and the details in the head and eye. The bill color looks good too.

TFS,
Rachel

[Julie Kenward]

I have to agree - I also don't like the OOF body but love the head and the way the eye turned out. I can see where it would work to add a bit more to the RHS but I like close crops on portraits so I went with his bill in the corner. I'll go back and see if I had any more room on that side.

[Rachel Hollander]

I have to agree - I also don't like the OOF body but love the head and the way the eye turned out. I can see where it would work to add a bit more to the RHS but I like close crops on portraits so I went with his bill in the corner. I'll go back and see if I had any more room on that side.

Jules - the other option might be to go even tighter getting rid of as much of the oof body as possible and really having just the head with the bill truly in the lower left corner. Unconventional, but a close crop portrait. :)

Rachel

[Eric Patdu]

Nice exposure on the whites Julie. Although the DOF is shallow, I kinda like this duck's portrait especially the eye that looks realistic.

[Julie Kenward]

Thanks Eric. Rachel, good idea...I'll look at that as well!

[Cheryl Flory]

I really like the focus on the face in this image. and would try the tight crop also, maybe something like this.

[Rachel Hollander]

Jules- This is what I had been thinking:

[Svante Larsson]

Cheryl and Rachel - looks like two minds with a common mind. Prefer Cheryls version with a bit more space in front of the bird - I think it really looks good. With this close crop however there is a waterdrop (?) on the top of his head which I would remove. I would also contemplate blurring the background a bit.

[Julie Kenward]

I like both versions - I like the front on Chery's and the back (left) on Rachel's! Appreciate all the comments - it's great how we can all learn from each other, isn't it?

[Cheryl Flory]

I thought you would like more in the back, Julie, LOL. I like the curve of the back of the neck too, but not as much as I like removing the bright white back.

love the drop on the top of the head.