Female Northern Shoveler

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

St. Pete Fl. I got closer images of the males and the females but I really like the water drop. At first I had wished it was more at the tip of the bill but this has grown on me. More crop than I would like but Again this image stood out for me. I struggled with the eye as there were 2 catchlights and two other reflective spots. (Does that mean 4 catchlights? So I removed 2 of them and left two. It looked funny when I removed three. I also went back and forth on the crop. Putting the bird to the left felt off balance and It seemed to be because of the angled drop.Also I added a little blur to the bg to try and soften the lines Anyway Here's what i came up with.

Camera Model Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/1600
Av( Aperture Value ) 8.0
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed 640
Lens EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM +2x
C&C welcome ans appreciated.

[Ofer Levy]

Sweet image! Lovely light and colours, very nice pose and the water drops add a lot. IQ is still good but maybe some more sharpening on the head. I can see why it's not easy to determine the composition in here. Maybe more of a pano as in this repost. Cropped of the top, bottom and left and applied some CCW rotation. Also applied some more sharpening to the head.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Sweet image! Lovely light and colours, very nice pose and the water drops add a lot. IQ is still good but maybe some more sharpening on the head. I can see why it's not easy to determine the composition in here. Maybe more of a pano as in this repost. Cropped of the top, bottom and left and applied some CCW rotation. Also applied some more sharpening to the head.

Hey Ofer,
Thanks for the critique and the time you took to repost. I like everything you did but wonder if she looks too centered vertically? Also I forgot that I struggled with the rotation too. I actully rotated it to line up with the blue wake line and that messed up the vertical lines. I see your rotation was the proper way to go. I also agree about the sharpening so thank you.

[Karl Egressy]

I love your original picture, Cheryl, but have to admit that I like the pano composition of Ofer better. It draws more attention to the bird.
Great looking water and bird. The pose with the droplet on the base of the beak makes it special to me.

[Ofer Levy]

Hey Ofer,
Thanks for the critique and the time you took to repost. I like everything you did but wonder if she looks too centered vertically? Also I forgot that I struggled with the rotation too. I actully rotated it to line up with the blue wake line and that messed up the vertical lines. I see your rotation was the proper way to go. I also agree about the sharpening so thank you.

Thanks Cheryl, I don't feel it is centered vertically bacause the reflection fills the bottom nicely and it looks fine to me.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Thanks Cheryl, I don't feel it is centered vertically bacause the reflection fills the bottom nicely and it looks fine to me.

Well then, let's go with it. I need to fix that rotation anyway. I also like how the crop works with the water droplet. Thanks

[Ofer Levy]

Had a nother look at this and realised that a bit more room on the right will make it even better - what do you think? IQ sufferd as I worked on the repost but just to give the impression.

[dankearl]

Nice, Cheryl, I like the last repost, but the OP is fine with me.
The water makes this for me, nice color and texture. The FG blends nicely into
The BG.

[Josh Clark]

Nice shot of this female Shoveler Cheryl. These guys are not easy to catch with their mandibles out of the water. You managed to get a nice drinking shot of this one and it works very well with your image. I do like the reposts with the crop changes. Typically I would move the bird more the left but I see your dilema. Nice smooth BG too.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice low angle and light, the water drops adds an extra touch! I like Ofer's repost # 7 for comp. BTW, sometimes a center comp works just fine!!! no black and white rules in art
and yes to more sharpening!

TFS nice work Cheryl!

[Jonathan Ashton]

A very nice image, I would take a little off the left of the original and sharpen the head a little more, I like the colours and the pose, the water droplet adds that little extra something.

[Craig Kerr]

A wonderful image Cheryl, the beautiful colors draw you to the bird and that water drop finishes the image for me

[gail bisson]

The water drop makes this image. I like the last repost best and really like how the BG merges with FG. Good one,
Gail

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Cheryl, cool swimming pose with the tilted back head, and I really like the BG colours of the water. I feel Ofer's repost in pane # 7 works best, and of course, the droplet puts this over the top. An opportunity well used.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

[QUOTE=Ofer Levy;753823]Had a nother look at this and realised that a bit more room on the right will make it even better - what do you think? IQ sufferd as I worked on the repost but just to give the impression.[/QUOT

Dang, another option?? Well before I hit the sack last night I re cropped for my website and chose your pano idea for the final. This was my last one I did last night

[Grace Scalzo]

It's a lovely image, Cheryl. The placement of the drop, the tilt of her head, and that great shovelor bill are what makes this work for my eye.

[Melissa Groo]

I'm with Grace on this. Very special for those reasons. Love those colors too. It is a hard comp, isn't it though. I like what you did with the last post here.

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely light on this one, and I love the water droplet. My fav crop is the Pano #7.

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful image. Love the colors and the great light. Great pose, love the water drop, and I really like the final crop.
Well done.