Inspired by Gary Esman's nice canvas back drake, I went to the local bird sanctuary this AM. March is generally a good month here as the waterfowl move north, and today was no exception. The birds always tend to me more tolerant now than in the fall, so I just sat down for a bit and they ignored me.
D700 600VR 1.4 TC 1/2000s f/6.3 ISO 500 Wimberley Gitzo
Post: Selective sharpening, rotation, minor crop from above, cleaned up a couple of spots in the water. Touch of detail extractor Color Efex pro to help tease a bit more out of the blacks.
I was as low as you can easily get at that location ( can shoot through the fence, but the light angle would have made that a tangential shot with lots of distortion)
I like the low POV and the IQ of the image.I am OK with the composition as well.As always, the water drops add to the image. Nice silky water as well,
Gail
Your techs are perfect as is your usual. Lots of interesting details. And I bet you were anticipating this comment from me.......it is too tight in the frame for my comfort level.
Grace, I have more room all around except to the right (of course). The reflection was weak, so cropped that out, which influenced the crop from the top. I clipped a smidge off the left so that he wasn't quite so centered left to right. If I have time tonight I will throw up the original, so people can have a go at the crop! Plus, I rotated it a bit and lost a little canvas that way!
Hi Randy, well exposed, tack sharp, and that lovely red eye really pops. Describing your shooting position, Im fine with this angle, and I do like the droplets. I also feel this is a bit tight, but look forward to your original to see what you had to play with.
Here is the original, uncropped version of the file. My crop was driven by the poor reflection. I could easily clean that up a bit and leave most of the room, but open to your thoughts.
Randy, Such a fine, clear image. My 2 cents is to deal with the bottom just like you did in your original post and then leave the rest as is (no more cropping). Will be interested in what others have to say.
Amazing shot of this beauty duck, Randy. I would sit around for days to get a shot of this duck as yours.
Great light and details. ( One of my nemesis birds)
Randy, excellent angle, details, exposure, HA...loved the ripples. I'd take off just a bit from the bottom. In these situations( duck too big in the frame), many times, I use non-center AF point ( and Ai servo) to get the composition right in the camera. They move a lot...focus-on-eye-recompose does not always work. And they change their angles a lot.... I always have my thumb on the Af point selector joystick. Since I dont have that many points, its easier I guess :-) I choose AF point based on composition and stop down so the DOF is taken care of. When they are further away, its much simpler.