Duck on pond - C&C requested

[Tony M]

Hi all,

I was at a pond in Marbella not long after sunrise and took this photo. I have done simple PP in LR4 and would like to know people's opinions of the photo, and how it may be improved.

The camera settings are: 1/200 sec at f/5.6, ISO 200, 250mm focal length.

I think it could be sharper. I should have reduced the shutter speed; rule of thumb says it should be faster than the focal length number, i.e. <= 1/250s, but I wasn't thinking at the time.



Thanks in advance,

Tony

[Bobobird]

A very nice shot.

I would have increased the shutter speed and used maybe f8.

[Designer]

I may be nit-picking here, but could you tone down the two white spots in the upper right corner? I find them somewhat distracting. Make them match the other dark areas, if you agree.

[Tony M]

I would have increased the shutter speed and used maybe f8.

I agree, Bobo. I was taking photos where I wanted a wide aperture, then forgot to change it.

I may be nit-picking here, but could you tone down the two white spots in the upper right corner?

Jim, I tried your suggestion. I tried LR's spot removal tool, but result was patchy. I then tried Photoshop Element 10's healing brush, but the result wasn't natural. I then tried its clone tool, which gave the best result. The picture is below. I also increased saturation, local contrast ("clarity" in LR), and sharpening (all in LR).



I quite like the result. I hope next time I can choose better exposure settings; all part of the learning experience.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Tony

[acsky]

Tony

You made a good improvement with the last edit. Now the feathers are clearly visible and the round waves on the water are beautiful.

well done.

Toño

[FrankMi]

In addition to what Toño points out, unlike most bird images, this one is striking a very interesting pose for you. Good eye in seeing and capturing that!

[PKFUSION]

Great exposure, lots of detail in the feathers yet still white!
For me I would either crop a little tighter, almost filling the frame with the duck or crop wider (if you have it) to include the concentric ripples. This would also put the duck on the top right thirds maybe?

Nice Picture!

[Colin Southern]

Hi Tony,

I really like it.

What I'd suggest is taking a step back and identifying things that contribute to the image (and enhancing them) and those what weaken the image (and remove them). In this case I don't think the large area above the duck does anything for the image (so I've cropped it), but the texture and colour of the ripples need to be enhanced. Plus a careful over-all sharpen.

I came up with this ... (Be sure to click it for the best view)

[Colin Southern]

PS: Your shutter speed was fine - the 1 over focal length (times crop-factor) rule is (a) only a guide, but (b) doesn't apply when using IS lenses anyway. You didn't have a camera shake issue - only a sharpening one.

[Tony M]

Colin,

The crop is excellent.

How did you enhance the texture and colour of the ripples? I wanted that effect but don't know how to achieve it.

Tony

[Colin Southern]

Colin,

The crop is excellent.

How did you enhance the texture and colour of the ripples? I wanted that effect but don't know how to achieve it.

Tony

Hi Tony,

I could tell you, but you'd probably wish I hadn't ...

I started by using LAB colour - used a curve layer - and steepened the curve of the B channel - then reduced the opacity to taste, but you'd probably get a similar result simply using a saturation brush over the ripples. Also, the original image was somewhat flat (black clipping point needed to be higher) - so whenI fixed that, it added contrast to the ripples as well.

A touch of sharpening added a bit of clarity to the image.

[Tony M]

Hi Colin,

I don't have Photoshop, just Lightroom and Photoshop Elements, so I couldn't reproduce your steps. In LR, I achieved a similar effect to you after doing a bit of research and experimentation. I used the Split Toning to change the tone of the shadows; that gave the water the golden look. I then used the hue, saturation and luminance to recover the blue in the water in the upper part of the image. I also did some "luminance smoothing", and a bit more sharpening. Below is the result.



I hope I get better and more efficient at PP soon; I need to mow the lawns and clean the car! Not to mention getting some sleep - it's nearly 2am.

Thanks for your help.

Tony

[Colin Southern]

Hi Colin,

I don't have Photoshop, just Lightroom and Photoshop Elements, so I couldn't reproduce your steps. In LR, I achieved a similar effect to you after doing a bit of research and experimentation. I used the Split Toning to change the tone of the shadows; that gave the water the golden look. I then used the hue, saturation and luminance to recover the blue in the water in the upper part of the image. I also did some "luminance smoothing", and a bit more sharpening. Below is the result.



I hope I get better and more efficient at PP soon; I need to mow the lawns and clean the car! Not to mention getting some sleep - it's nearly 2am.

Thanks for your help.

Tony

Hi Tony,

It looks pretty close (well done) -- just needs a touch of output sharpening. Usually you'll want to down-sample so that the longest edge is around 1000px and then apply a unsharp mask of around 50 to 100% @ 0.3 pixel for online display.

Would be a good shot to print / frame and hang on the wall (or sell!).