Nature Photographers Network
This is the preserved archive of the original Nature Photographers Network. The community continues at naturephotographers.network.
Forums · UKNP

Common but beautiful.

Discussion

12 replies
Posted by Ben Gardner on August 25, 2009 at 2:55 PM
Common but beautiful.
Hi all,

Grab shot taken while waiting for ospreys to fish. Although common I personally think mallards are realy beautiful birds and often overlooked.

C&C welcome

Ben

Nikon D300 + 400mm
iso200, f4, 1/250
slight crop in CS3
Posted by eric weight on August 25, 2009 at 3:01 PM
Couldn't agree more Ben. Very nicely done and you've caught the moment well. Not sure that it couldn't do with some A/C rotation though.
:toast: Eric
Posted by Brett Lewis on August 25, 2009 at 3:22 PM
Very nice grab shot at that.. Now, cropping and comp is a personal thing but I would take a little of the bottom and LHS. It's just my opinion and composition is not my strong point :biggrin:

I like the light and sharpness in which you have captured the movement.

Brett :toast:
Posted by Major Gilbert on August 25, 2009 at 3:23 PM
Captured well and processed nicely agree with a bit of the old R.

Major.
Posted by Ben Gardner on August 25, 2009 at 3:49 PM
Did a larger portrait crop to see which I prefer and I can't decide.

Agree that it needs a slight rotation but I prefer a little space around the bird so maybe only slightly more of a crop off the bottom.
Posted by Mark Davies on August 25, 2009 at 6:26 PM
IMHO ,the first one with the crop as suggested by Brett.Nice grab shot, lovely light.
Posted by Ian Mason on August 25, 2009 at 6:46 PM
Absolutely agree - I've spent hours with these. I love the portrait crop. For some reason though the blue on the wing shows more clearly on the first post. Gorgeous!
Posted by Ian Macdermott on August 25, 2009 at 6:48 PM
Hi Ben,

lovely shot with beautiful lighting :toast:

Your water is running down hill :wink:
Posted by Bob Cox on August 25, 2009 at 7:05 PM
Take them when you can , it may be a grab shot but could you have posed it better, Nice shot.

Bob.
Posted by Craig Jones on August 26, 2009 at 4:07 AM
A simple,but very nice image,with a great pose caught,very nice and I love both images :wink: :wink: :wavey:
Posted by PhilH on August 26, 2009 at 5:18 AM
Both are nice... you have so many cropping options... you do need to sort out the rotation though before you loose all the water from the image :biggrin:

:toast: :wavey: :toast:
Posted by Ben Gardner on August 26, 2009 at 7:07 AM
Cheers all. I will perform a bit of rotation magic this weekend. Off to do a bat survey through the night in Hertfordshire so can't tonight and will most likely be a walking zombie tomorrow after very little sleep :frown:
Posted by tony flashman on August 26, 2009 at 12:03 PM
Portrait crop with the bird lower in the frame would be my choice. Very nice image though!

Tony :toast: