Let's feed the ducks!

[acsky]

Father and daughter feeding the ducks at the park on Sunday afternoon.

C&C are welcome.

Toño

[FrankMi]

Hi Tono, without, perhaps, the bright green foliage in the foreground, I find it to be a very pleasing image.

[acsky]

Thanks Frank! I really liked the scene when I saw them.

And yes, you are probably right about the bright green foliage... but I still don't know how to select them to change the tones specifically on that area.

[FrankMi]

Hi Tono, one simple way is to crop out a bit of the bottom of the image. If you do, I would suggest not cropping out all of the foliage, just enough to lower the distraction a bit. That would put the ducks more on the 1/3rd line and make the scene a little more panoramic at the same time.

[acsky]

I think this one worked out great with the crop!

[Geoff F]

I would crop even tighter on the right, there is little of interest outside of the fence and I think it detracts from the main interest of feeding the ducks.

[acsky]

I thought about it at some point, but I like the S shape of the fence and walkway, don't you like that Geoff?

Besides I don't want to bring the man and his daughter to the center of the image.

[FrankMi]

I thought about it at some point, but I like the S shape of the fence and walkway, don't you like that Geoff?

Besides I don't want to bring the man and his daughter to the center of the image.

I agree on both counts. To me it looks great, particularly in the lightbox.

[Geoff F]

Yes but I think you could crop slightly. Possibly lose the driveway to the house which still retains the sweep. And I also wondered about removing the left hand tree. I think it might work but it is really a case of try and see.

I know it brings the people towards the centre but all the action is taking place from the centre to the left so I don't think it would be a great problem. To some extent, with that tree on the right, I think the people may become a 'pivot point' for the scene which would still be balanced.

[Donald]

Tono

Picking up on the comments by others above, with which I agree, and I hope you don't mind, but I thought it would be best to illustrate what I meant in thinking about a crop.

I find the benches on the right hand side do take attention away from the man and the child, and that the tree trunk at the left-hand-side creates an awkward edge to the image.

This is a crop at a 7:5 ratio. The edge of the railing on the left hand side lies on the left hand vertical third of a 'rule-of-thirds' grid and the eyes of the man lie on the top horizontal third of the same grid.

[acsky]

Hi Donald, thanks for your comments.

What I liked of including the tree and the bench is that they gave the image sort of context / framing.

Thanks for indicating precisely how you located the subject and the fence on your crop The outcome is also nice, and in this case brings more attention to the subjects.

I'm surprised nobody complained about the young couple on the background...

[Geoff F]

I'm surprised nobody complained about the young couple on the background...

They are sufficiently far away that we can leave them to peacefully sit there wondering why someone was photographing the ducks.

But what is of interest is the solitary Black-headed Gull amongst the ducks.

[vladimir]

I like the first image in the thread better then all other options. The reason - it covers more space (especially - more depth) than other options. And the space it covers is of very-very likable kind. "I wish I was there" kind of space . And the bench on the right, and the tree on the left - they are all good.

It could be the season, which we don't really have here, where I live, that makes me like it so much...

I didn't mind the green foliage in the front either, but if you find it destructive - it's really easy (and kind of fun) to fix in PS. Just pick the Color Replacement Tool (where the Brush Tool is), pick the color you want your leafs to be, and paint over them. And you can get something like this: