Wood Duck Colors and Repost

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

Repost with changes along the lines suggested by Diane:

-20230330-_A1_0493-McLane Creek-Edit-Edit-2-Edit
-20230330-_A1_0493-McLane Creek-Edit-Edit-2-Edit1500×1000 826 KB

Original:

-20230330-_A1_0493-McLane Creek-Edit-Edit.jpg
-20230330-_A1_0493-McLane Creek-Edit-Edit.jpg1500×1000 835 KB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

Another one from last Thursday. This log was pretty near the platform I was on, so this was taken lying down with the lens resting on the bottom rail of the three tier guard rail (there was just enough gap to kind of wedge my lens hood against it).

Specific Feedback

The background was full of out of focus lily pads that made dark blobs of more or less resolution. I used a tilt-shift blur on it then went over the darker spots with a semi-transparent soft brush of a lighter color picked up adjacent to the darker area. I notice on smaller views, the background still looks blotchy, but I’m interested in how it comes across in the larger view.

Technical Details

Sony A1, FE 200-600 + 1.4 TC @ 581 mm, f/9, 1/640, iso 1000, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. I divided this into three layers for processing: foreground (a little burning), background (quite a bit of cleanup and blurring as noted above), and the duck itself (midtones, luminosity and some brushes in LR as a finishing touch). The image is uncropped.

1 Like
2

Handsome dude in a lovely setting!! First impression from the thumbnail is of maybe too much contrast. Less of an issue with the full image a I can se more detail in the duck, but I still wonder about lightening the duck and darkening the BG a little.

BG looks excellent except right off the end of the log. Not hard to fix, but I wonder about blending back some low opacity of the original (or partially retouched) BG, to make the transition more gradual.

Maybe darken the water under the log.

3

I like the first over the second as the colors look more vibrant than those from the second. Details are excellent and the duck shows up well from the BG…Jim

4

Hi Dennis, what a great opportunity with a beautiful subject. I’d be really happy with either version. Wonderful pose, color, and details.

5

Beautiful look at the duck. Nice to have him fully out of the water and on such a nice perch. I prefer the repost with the somewhat darker background.

6

A very nice and colorful image to start with, in this case I think the edited version being the better of the two,. Nice work, Cheers, Hans