Posted by Geoff Shapiro on April 26, 2006 at 1:23 AM
Mallards are probably among the most common waterfowl, especially around urban/suburban areas. They are probably also one of the most photographed for that reason. However, IMO that makes them no less worthy of admiration as the male's head and neck plumage is something to admire in the right light.
Recipe for this portrait:
1. 20D, 300/4L IS + 1.4x, 1/200 @ f7.1, ISO 400
2. Find a mallard in the middle of the afternoon enjoying a period of siesta on a warmer and sunny day.
3. Approach the mallard low and slow. In this case it enabled me to also get a nice angle up to catch the sky/clouds.
The end result is this mallard portrait...
Posted by AJ Montgomery on April 26, 2006 at 2:02 PM
Very rich and highly detailed. I like the backdrop too! This is a nice take on a common bird, well done!
A very nice, intimate wildlife portrait. I think I'll have a few Florida bird shots to share when I get back to Portland this weekend. I've been on a bird photo kick lately.
Geoff,
This one slipped by me. As Ryan said," a nice intimate portrait". It looks like alot of thought went into this composition.
Posted by Geoff Shapiro on April 27, 2006 at 6:06 PM
Thanks, guys. Don't worry about letting this one slip by as I didn't notice the lack of comments too much either , mainly because I've been too busy getting so many other bird shots. Today was a really great day - went over to Champoeg that is a few miles from my house and got some great closeups of a Great Horned Owl. I'll post that one after I get done processing in a day or so (just too many images queued up!).
For this shot I wish I'd gotten a slight bit more shadow detail in the eye and on the head below the eye, but it was midday and lighting conditions were quite harsh. What I do like about this comp is the way the blue sky and clouds seems such a nice backdrop for this portrait.
Discussion
4 repliesRecipe for this portrait:
1. 20D, 300/4L IS + 1.4x, 1/200 @ f7.1, ISO 400
2. Find a mallard in the middle of the afternoon enjoying a period of siesta on a warmer and sunny day.
3. Approach the mallard low and slow. In this case it enabled me to also get a nice angle up to catch the sky/clouds.
The end result is this mallard portrait...
This one slipped by me. As Ryan said," a nice intimate portrait". It looks like alot of thought went into this composition.
For this shot I wish I'd gotten a slight bit more shadow detail in the eye and on the head below the eye, but it was midday and lighting conditions were quite harsh. What I do like about this comp is the way the blue sky and clouds seems such a nice backdrop for this portrait.