Wood Duck Male

Gallery: AvianPosted March 7, 2011173 views8 comments

Nikon D300s
600mm
SS 1/500
F/4.5
Aperature Priority
ISO 500
Metering Mode Pattern
Exposure Compensation -1.00
White Balance Cloudy
Tripod/Wimberley
Shot 10-17-10
This shot was taken in San Diego on a very cloudy morning. Normally the wood ducks do not approach people but this one turned and gave me a look that said, "you've got 3 seconds to get your shot and I'm out of here". It was a head on shot so I thought that F/4.5 would capture the head nice and sharp as that was the focus. This shot was cropped about 30%, sharpened and leveled with a slight contrast adjustment. Comments and suggestion are always meaningful to me. Please see larger size. Thanks for looking. Have a great week.

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on March 7, 2011 at 11:43 PM

Know what you mean out the wood ducks. Great color and I love the low angle. Excellent sharpness in the eyes and good detail in the feathers on the head. I wish the DOF was a little more though so that the area just behind the eye was as sharp as the rest.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on March 7, 2011 at 11:59 PM

Hi David, your choice of depth of field certainly does focus our attention on the head. Nice colors, detail and exposure here. Do you have any more room on the bottom? I think ideally you would have the whole reflection of the head included there as it's just barely touching the edge of the frame as currently shown.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Holguin on March 8, 2011 at 1:25 AM

Excellent photograph. Love the low angle shot. Wonderful colors and sharp where it needs to be. Well done.

Registered on January 25, 2011, 44 Posts, 294 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on March 8, 2011 at 2:47 AM

Interesting perspective and lovely colours.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments

Comment posted by Harry Harris on March 8, 2011 at 9:06 AM

David, the birds like you. I like the intense look on the ducks face and I aggree if you have a little room on the bottom mabe you should try to add some. As usual you techs seem great to me.

Registered on August 2, 2010, 169 Posts, 741 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on March 8, 2011 at 3:55 PM

Sweet Photo David! I do wish to see a bit more of that cool reflection too. But when you only have a moment to make a photo, you make the best of it for the first frames, and hope for more time to make compostional decisions in following images.

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by David Haynes on March 8, 2011 at 5:47 PM

Thank you all for your input on providing more reflection. The only problem is that I do not have any more room at the bottom of this image. I too wish there was more room to show the entire head being reflected in the water. Maybe next time. I didn't have much time to get this image and it's the only one I got before he turned and backed off. All of the cropping was done from the sides and the top. Cheers.

Registered on February 20, 2010, 110 Posts, 1511 Comments

Comment posted by Lindy Martin on March 14, 2011 at 9:28 PM

I think you did great for your 3 seconds! and, I really like the reflection. Good one.

Registered on March 10, 2009, 60 Posts, 169 Comments