Wood Duck

[Landon Starnes]

Hello All, this is just my second image to post here on BPN. I got this image last month at a local botanical garden where there is a small flock of wood ducks that are approachable and easy to photograph. Taken under partly overcast conditions in the late afternoon. Your comments and suggestions are appreciated! Thanks for looking.

Canon 7D | 100-400 | 1/200 | f/8 | ISO 1250 | 580EX II + Better Beamer



www.landonstarnesphotography.com

[Don Lacy]

Hi Landon, I really like the water in the BG it gives a nice canvas to show case your subject against. Unfortunately it looks like it threw off you meter and caused the camera to underexposed the Wood Duck. You could have fixed this with either a stronger flash setting or added + compensation to your exposure.

[Randy Stout]

Landon:

Welcome to BPN! Good comments from Don.

I like the good view of the feet, the nice detail showing on the sides.

I would work on the eye a bit to remove some of the flash effect. By reducing the 'steel eye' it would increase the apparent sharpness of the eye, which is very important in bird photos.

You may be able to rebalance the relative brightness of the background vs. the bird to make him pop a bit more.

When possible, a lower shooting angle tends to be more intimate, but not always possible.

Please feel free to post the largest image allowed, 1024 H x 800 vertically. This really helps us with the critique.

Always good to make a comment or two about your post processing so we know what was done to the image.

Be sure to comment on other folks images, it is a great way to learn, and helps build our sense of community!

Cheers

Randy

[Landon Starnes]

Thank you Don and Randy for your comments and suggestions! I know what you mean regarding the eye and will fix it. I will also try and lighten the bird some. I agree about a lower angle, I love them, unfortunately employing one was not possible here due to a very inconvenient bush in my way.


Some processing actions in CS5: With this image I just did basic curves and levels adjustments, slight saturation boost and selective sharpening on the bird. I also cloned some small debris on the rock.

Thanks again for your suggestions, I really appreciate them!

[Don Lacy]

I will also try and lighten the bird some.

Hi Landon, Looking at the histogram there is no information in the darks so lighting will not work it will only show noise in the field you need to check both sides of the histogram for clipping. Since this is a local spot I would go back and try again it has great potential.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Landon, Looking at the histogram there is no information in the darks so lighting will not work it will only show noise in the field you need to check both sides of the histogram for clipping. Since this is a local spot I would go back and try again it has great potential.

A tough exposure for sure Don but you gotta remember that contrast is increased considerably in a JPEG. He might have a good chance to open up the BLACKs during conversion.....

[Arthur Morris]

Welcome Landon. I like the framing. The situation was less than ideal with the bright water and the bird in the shade and the darn bush.... Mr. Stout gave you some hefty advice :). Hope to see them more and better over time .

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Landon, and a big welcome to BPN. The folk above have put you on the right track, so after cutting down the bush, you can come back with a winner. These guys have such striking colours.