Mottled Duck

[Oscar Vazquez-Ortiz]

Canon EOS 50D, f/8, 1/5000sec, ISO400, 400mm, CWA, no flash,
Manual, White Balance Manual.

C/C welcomed and encouraged.

[Julie Kenward]

Oscar, I like the pose and your choice of shutter speed here. Overall the bird feels a little soft (especially the head) and the image feels a bit dark or underexposed. The wings appear to be showing some noise as well. All this leads me to wonder about how much you cropped on this image?

[John Chardine]

These are difficult images to get- your timing has to be just right, which it was here. I agree with Jules. I tried another round of sharpening in Ps, which worked but brought out more of the noise.

[Oscar Vazquez-Ortiz]

Oscar, I like the pose and your choice of shutter speed here. Overall the bird feels a little soft (especially the head) and the image feels a bit dark or underexposed. The wings appear to be showing some noise as well. All this leads me to wonder about how much you cropped on this image?

Hi Jules, thanks for your C/C. The duck was very close so I do not think I had to crop it.
I did lighten up the image a bit because my setting were on to catch birds in flight. When the duck action came up in front of me I did not have time to change anything! Just shoot away. So I can understand the underexposed image but the noise (at ISO400) issue bears some investigation.

[Oscar Vazquez-Ortiz]

These are difficult images to get- your timing has to be just right, which it was here. I agree with Jules. I tried another round of sharpening in Ps, which worked but brought out more of the noise.

Hi John, your C/C are always welcomed! I am trying to figure out the noise angle a bit for
future reference. I did not notice so I did not run any NR or anything like that.

[William Malacarne]

Oscar

Nice shot, I like it lots. If mine a might try lighting up a little. Check the histogram of the RAW data. Ideally you want it to be as far to the right without clipping the whites. Usually your noise will be in the darker colors so by doing the expose right you will eliminate much of the noise. If need during PP you can always bring the whites back a little.

Bill

[Oscar Vazquez-Ortiz]

Oscar

Nice shot, I like it lots. If mine a might try lighting up a little. Check the histogram of the RAW data. Ideally you want it to be as far to the right without clipping the whites. Usually your noise will be in the darker colors so by doing the expose right you will eliminate much of the noise. If need during PP you can always bring the whites back a little.

Bill

Hi Bill, thanks for the input. I am planning to visit the same spot again to see if I can
improve on the exposures.

[William Malacarne]

Oscar

Here is a link that will explains it better, you ca also probably do a search on this forum and find info also.

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tu...se-right.shtml

Bill

[Sid Garige]

Oscar,

Excellent composition and pose. Techs look good. Sharpness and noise issues already mentioned.

-Sid