Mallard Zoom Blur

[Andrew McLachlan]

A brief outing to Humber Bay Park on Lake Ontario in Toronto on Sunday yielded a few good shots of Mallards. I liked the open wings on this fella as he came in for a landing, but details in the head were lacking so I thought I'd play around with it in CS4 and create a zoom blur.

Look forward to comments.

[Julie Kenward]

Well that certainly made me smile! Now I can't stop thinking about all the blurry BIF images I have that I should go back and do this to! Nice punch of color and the symmetry of the bird's position is very nice. I can't stop wondering what it would look like with a razor sharp bill and everything else in this wonderful blur so my eyes would have a place to rest...

Just a thought!

[denise ippolito]

Andrew, I like the symmetry too. The colors and the zoom are very nice. I wouldn't mind seeing a version w/ a sharp bill if you have it but this is quite lovely as presented.:)

[Judy Howle]

I agree with the others. I really like the position and symmetry and the zoom blur is well done and I agree on bit more sharpness in the bill, but it's very nice like it is.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks for comments. I just did another version with sharper bill and positioned the center of the zoom blur more on the head, but it changed the way the wings blurred. Not sure if I like that.

Off to bed have a rotten head cold, chat tomorrow.

Look forward to comments on this one.

[denise ippolito]

I would just mask the sharp bill in place and leave the rest of the image as the OP. Feel better soon!!:)

[Kerry Perkins]

Andrew, I love the blur and the motion. Repost rocks with the added detail. I like the second one better as I think the image is brighter and has cleaner colors (cleaned up the green cast). Very nice. He is - "Mighty Mallard"! Feed the cold and starve the fever! Don't know how that works, but... :D

[Christopher Miller]

Great work, Andrew. Love the symmetrical pose, and the zoom blur really gives it that wow factor! I'm with Kerry on preferring the second version. Hope you feel better soon! :)

[Julie Kenward]

I love that repost!!! Outstanding work, Andrew!

[Ken Childs]

Hey Andrew, great idea and the repost does rock! Kerry's title of Mighty Mallard fits this perfectly! :)

[Cheryl Slechta]

Andrew, I love the repost. Hope you're better soon:)

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks to all for the comments. Very much appreciated.