40D. 200 f2.8( new lens bought last week) and 1.4x. f/4.5. 1/250s. iso800.
Tough conditions for duck photography as this pond( in a botanical garden) is surrounded by tall trees. All C&C welcome.
Wood duck drake in low light
40D. 200 f2.8( new lens bought last week) and 1.4x. f/4.5. 1/250s. iso800.
Tough conditions for duck photography as this pond( in a botanical garden) is surrounded by tall trees. All C&C welcome.
Last edited by Kaustubh Deshpande; 04-18-2011 at 09:53 AM.
Great low angle and I like the detail in the duck. I think a vertical may have worked in order to get more of the reflection.
Kaustubh:
Sharp, nice shooting angle, pleasant colors in BG.
I suspect the reflection wasn't of good quality because of the low shooting angle, and that including more probably wouldn't add much to the image.
I might try a version about 1/4 to 1/3 stop brighter.
Interesting choice for a birding lens. It will stress good fieldcraft!
Cheers
Randy
Randy, I dont think I'll be able to use it for birding. I bought it because I have 100 f/2 and 400f5.6 and didn't have anything in between. 70-200f2.8 is too pricey for me...so went with this one. I had gone to botanical garden to test it on flowers and stuff but ended up shooting these ducks :-) pretty impressed with the lens...takes TC quite well.Originally Posted by Randy Stout
Kaus, I like your comp as is, and good low angle. Colours look spot on, and I do like that BG. Congrats on your new toy.
Excellent detail and color, but the angle of the bird doesn't do it for me -- IMHO, a bit of a head turn would have improved the image Also, the large white blotch to the right of the bird is a major distraction.
How do you get so close to these guys? I've been trying to get a decent image of one at the SJWS for a week, and he won't come within 50 yards of me!
John
John, there are these fish ponds at this botanical garden. There is fish food that people buy for quarters from vending machines and throw in the water. Guess what.. its not just the fish who like it. I am not even sure if the food is good for the Wood ducks but they do seem to like it. This was my first time there and I was surprised how close the ducks were. I've also found very tame wood ducks in Fort Worth zoo here. Doug posts wood ducks shots from Albuquerque zoo. Its always difficult to get close to ducks at natural wetlands.
I think this is a lovely portrait. The colors, the detail, the low angle. Excellent job.
Love the low angle, water, and BG!
Agree it could go a bit lighter.
I'm seeing some blue/green color cast that I tried to remedy in the repost.
See what you think.
thx for taking the time, Mike. huge improvement with the color cast.
I will go back to the raw file and see what I can do with the brightness. Due to SS constraint, I could not expose to the right. And pushing an underexposed iso800 40D file in post always adds a lot of noise...hence I kept it the way it is. I believe I have already pushed it a bit...worth another try.
Brilliant image , Kaustubh . Looks like you are the Pied Piper for ducks . Need no big guns to shoot them . Mikes repost is a huge improvement . Next you should try duck shooting wide angle . Will give some pretty interesting results !!
Lovely image and composition Kaustubh. Like the eye contact and head position which gives it a nice 3D effect. Excellent IQ with that iso.
Great shot as the pic tells the story, he's alert and he's on a mission cruising with a small wake,
For food I assume from your story and you could shoot a wood duck at the Albuquerque zoo with a wide angle lens. Same situation with the feed, probably 100 there last January when I visited.
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