Mallard

[David N Smith]

This is my first time posting to this forum so I hope I am doing it correctly. Here is a photo of a Mallard I took a couple of weeks ago. I was wondering what I could do to improve this shot. The only PP I have done is to crop it.
Any critique is welcome.
Camera: Canon XSi, Exposure: 1/250 @ F/5.6, ISO: 100, Focal Length: 250



Thanks,

Dave

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi David, and a big warm welcome to BPN. You will find lots of valuable information and help here. To help us evaluate your images, please include your shooting mode and metering method. I am assuming you used the 100-400mm lens or the 70-200mm with a TC? This would be helpful to know also.

You did a good job on the exposure and color balance. The biggest problem in this image is the composition, as the bird is moving away from you and out of the frame. While you have a good eye contact, the bird is angled away from the camera and this reinforces the notion that he is almost gone from the frame. Much better to have the mallard swimming toward you with more space to the right for him to swim into. I see that you were wanting to show the wake, but the lack of space on the right takes away from the image.

Looking forward to more, keep them coming!

[David N Smith]

Hi David, and a big warm welcome to BPN. You will find lots of valuable information and help here. To help us evaluate your images, please include your shooting mode and metering method. I am assuming you used the 100-400mm lens or the 70-200mm with a TC? This would be helpful to know also.

Thanks for the input Kerry. I was using a 55-250 kit lens, shooting in shutter priority mode, in evaluative metering mode. I originally had it cropped to show less wake & more water in front of the subject but critiques from another forum suggested this crop, so it just shows that photography IS very subjective. I would have liked to have had the Mallard swimming toward me but I could not position myself any differently and he wouldn't listen to me & turn toward me.

[Kerry Perkins]

David, birds can be very insensitive to a photographer's needs!

[John Chardine]

Hi David- Welcome as well! Composition and crop looked after so I'll talk about camera angle. Now, it is often not possible to get low, but it's fair to say that the impact an image has is proportional to how low you get, or at least how close to eye level you are. With a few exceptions, birds are pretty small animals and we need to try to get into their world when we make them the subjects of our images. The way you do this is to capture them at eye level if possible. Get down and dirty as they say. If you do this you have to then be concerned about backgrounds because the lower you get in the case of the Mallard for example, the more you will include the background foliage or sky or whatever is there above the water. Anyway lots to think about but you are at the right place!

[David N Smith]

Hi David- Welcome as well! Composition and crop looked after so I'll talk about camera angle. Now, it is often not possible to get low, but it's fair to say that the impact an image has is proportional to how low you get, or at least how close to eye level you are. With a few exceptions, birds are pretty small animals and we need to try to get into their world when we make them the subjects of our images. The way you do this is to capture them at eye level if possible. Get down and dirty as they say. If you do this you have to then be concerned about backgrounds because the lower you get in the case of the Mallard for example, the more you will include the background foliage or sky or whatever is there above the water. Anyway lots to think about but you are at the right place!

Thanks for the input John. The camera was at ground level as I was on top of a levee and trying to get any closer to the waters edge would have probably put me in the water. I have a couple of Mallards on my pond and I will try to get to water level and get a shot of them.
I really like this forum and the photos I have seen on here are incredible and are pushing me to do better myself. I don't have great glass yet but I also haven't learned to use the glass I have but I am working on it.

dave

[Kerry Perkins]

I don't have great glass yet but I also haven't learned to use the glass I have but I am working on it.

dave

Dave, you said a mouthful there! Learning the basics with the gear that you have is the best possible plan and I am still in that mode myself. I am an Indiana native, and lived in Muncie and Kokomo when I was in high school. I don't want to give away your secret location, but I'm thinking Fort Wayne... Hope you decide to stay around a while, there is much opportunity for learning here.