Snow Mallard

Gallery: AvianPosted January 17, 2012173 views3 comments

I shot this image as the mallard came in for a landing on a snow covered pond in Wisconsin. It it not as sharp as I would have liked, nor do I see as much of the duck's head as I would like. However, I liked the look of the feathers on the duck's back. I cloned out a few distracting dark blobs in the background. Comments and critiques welcome.

Canon 7D
Canon 100-400 L IS
Shutter Speed: 1/800
Aperture: f5.7
Focal length: 320 mm
ISO: 400

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by Eirini Pajak on January 17, 2012 at 11:42 AM

I think this is an interesting view of the duck...I don't think I would mind not being able to see the duck's head so much however if it was a lot more in focus on the back.

Registered on December 13, 2011, 216 Posts, 1671 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on January 17, 2012 at 11:48 AM

Interesting thought. The high key look works pretty well. To complete the look, I would clone out the twigs in the lower right corner as they don't add anything for me. Not quite sharp, but pretty close.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on January 17, 2012 at 5:57 PM

I like the idea behind this shot. For me the bird is a bit too soft. Also, there is a very obvious area of lighter BG surrounding parts of the bird, especially the left wing. Looks like this is a result of a poor selection of the bird and then lightening this area. I would fix this if it were my image.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments