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Thread: White-faced Duck

  1. #1
    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Default White-faced Duck

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    Im really enjoying my results from using manual exposure. This guy was coming into land at a local birding spot in Pretoria. The BG on the left is a stone pitched wall, and to the right is natural OOF foliage.

    Canon 50D
    100-400 @ 400mm
    1/2500
    F/6.3
    ISO 640

    Manual Exposure
    Hand held

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    Fantastic Stuart! Great head angle, feather detail, pose and colours.

    A couple minor nits for me - I do wish the lighting across the background was a bit more uniform - a bit of selective dodging might help that (I'd go for the light background rather than the dark myself...). While I generally like the water droplets entrained in take-off, the ones here are small and a bit distracting and I'd consider cloning them out.

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    Excellent image! Flight pose is very dramatic, details beautifully captured. Jeff made a good point about darkening the BG on the left side. I don't mind the water drops - looks like you selectively sharpened them, so they stand out well from the BG.

    This is a gorgeous bird - would love to see one in real life some day...

    John

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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    lovely pose and sharp details Stu!
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    Very dramatic image !! Super sharp and nice . The water drops add to the image .

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    Really great light and the IQ is top notch. Great complimentary colors...Lovely stuff Stuart!

  7. #7
    Ofer Levy
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    I like this! Sharp with nice contact nd excellent exposure control.

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    Top IQ Stuart, like the H/A and love the pose TFS

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    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Stuart:

    Excellent impact with this one, dynamic pose, rich colors, sharp, well exposed.

    Do agree about the evenness of the background. I would try two versions, one with the background on the right brought up, the other with the BG on the left toned down. My main concern would be how changes effect the sense of separation of the bird from the background.

    Cheers

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    as already been said,excellent shot,great colors,sharp,well exposed,nice pose.thanks.

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Randy Stout View Post
    Stuart:

    I would try two versions, one with the background on the right brought up, the other with the BG on the left toned down. My main concern would be how changes effect the sense of separation of the bird from the background.
    Thanks Randy. I actually toned down the LHS part of the BG in my pp work, as it was fairly bright. Its a great idea to balance the two, and will try and bring up the RHS as per your suggestion.

    Thanks to everyone else for the feedback and kind words.

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    Stuart, what a shot. terrific pose and HA. exposure, dynamic range and sharpness are A+

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    BPN Member Steve Maxson's Avatar
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    Hi Stuart. You captured a dynamic pose of this interesting bird. The sharpness is excellent and I like the mix of earth tones in both bird and background. Also, you did a good job with a tricky exposure getting detail in both darks and whites. I like the water drops and would agree with trying to adjust the brightness/darkness of the background. Well done.

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    Nice image Stuart! I like the sharpness, details and exposure.

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    A terrific image, for all reasons mentioned above. Everything came together nicely here. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. TFS.

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    BPN Viewer Steve Canuel's Avatar
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    Excellent photo Stuart. Love the rich red and browns of this one.

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Thank you all so much for the comments. Always appreciated.

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    What a lovely pose and detail mate. Techs spot on.

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