To clone or not to clone - that's the question.

Mandarin Duck and Drake.
We have a pair of these nesting near a woodland stream not far from the house and I was lucky enough to get the pair together before she went down on eggs.It was in the evening and now the leaves are on it really is dark.
Bit noisy but never mind.
Now the BIG question for you all. What about the bluebell ?!!
As the song nearly says "Shall it go or shall it stay "
Interesting one.
D200 Sigma 50-500
50th sec F8 ISO 800
PS The birds actually prospected our house chimney pots last year but chose an apple tree instead.!!
JohnR

Funny you mentioned the blue bell as it was the second thing that grabbed my eye, not the female and not helped by the fact that that is where the male is looking.

Colour is a powerful attractor/stimulator and in this case as it completes directly with the female I would clone it out as the main subject is the ducks and their environment and the blue bell has no interaction/relevence to the ducks.

Thanks Tom- that's one for OUT !
JR

I would do the same John,

Imagine trying to do that 'seamlessly' in a wet darkroom

Nice shot btw

Alan

Now you know what they say John. "Nearly is only half way"
Shall I stay or shall I go now. Go!!!!!!!!!!
Cover that Bluebell with a piece of paper or card and see the difference.
Great capture of a pair of lovely ducks.

Major.

Ok thats three for "out"!
Trouble is , there's something inside me that will always remember that bluebell as it was there when I took the shot .
Interesting.
JR

I`m going to be a contrarian, and say keep it in. I think it adds to the interest of the picture, and the male even seems to be admiring it, despite what Tom says about no interaction. Either with or without, it`s still a lovely picture!

Leave it! This image jumped off the screen at me when I opened it and the bluebell makes a significant contribution to the habitat.

I'm not too sure about this one John. The BBs do draw my attention but the position kind of balances the overall image somewhat, especially with ducks facing towards them. If I had to choose, I'd probably say 'keep'.

Now that's three for "in "
I thought this would be a good one.
JR

To my mind the blue bell is balanced by the nettle on the right of the drake., so I say keep it.

John I never even noticed it until I read about it so I say keep it


Ian

Nice picture by the way

John,
On a number of my images there are obvious distractions that I will clone, other times they are less obvious. Unless you are shooting to a specific brief or reason I would say its down to what you like. This is one of those shots when I would decide if I liked it or not.
For me, I would leave it.

Tony

Remove it would me my suggestion John - my eye just gets dragged to it every time.

Or book the ducks for a re-shoot in a new location

I would leave it too, otherwise where do you stop, next would be the nettle, then the branch in the bottom left corner, then the branch going through the males neck, then the white flower, and the greenery behind their feet........................................................i much prefer photos 'as taken' , anyone can clone out bits that dont look right, but it takes real skill to take appealing, sharp and interesting photos, and you have surely achieved that.

Leave it in and clone out the ducks Seriously although it grabs the eye i would probably leave it

Dave

Thanks everyone.
Just shows how there are no hard and fast rules really(Well a few maybe!)
Thanks again.
Maybe I could stick some more in and have a Bluebell wood !
JR

I too vote to keep it in. It's part of their environment. Wonderful pic.
Matt

I too vote to keep it in. It's part of their environment. Wonderful pic.
Matt

Personally, I would leave it John. To me it is part of the scene you photographed. Great shot btw !!

Dave

Hi John,

Lovely capture! If it was mine I'd keep it in! I prefer not to clone anything out of the frame (crop yes, clone no!). That's just me though!

Leave it in

Hi John,

Leave it in. On first viewing the BB or the nettle did not draw my eye and neither still do. When I read the title of the post and openend the image I expected you to be asking if the branch running behind the male should be cloned.

Cracking shot

Regards

Rob

Its the first thing I saw and it drags my eye away every time, so I would keep two copies; one with and one without and then try and get a better shot. Although that will take a lot of doing because this is a realy nice one.
Eric

Thanks everyone.
I know what I'll do- I'll crop it out and have a square shot !!
Cheers
JohnR