Duckling by the water

[arkusm]

Took this shot of a largish duckling near a local pond.
Wildlife photography is like taking picture of my kids, tricky cause no one wants to stay still.
Is the composition and exposure alright. I am not sure how the water in the background came out the way it did as the shutter speed should have been fast enough not to cause the type of blur in the bokeh... Thoughts?


Duckling by arkusm, on Flickr

154mm
f4
1/160
no flash

Cheers,

Mark

[jcspenny]

Firstly let me say that this is a really cute picture. The duckling is clear and in focus and I love how he's looking at the camera. My guess would be the water's bokeh was caused by the long focal length. I really like it that way though, it helps the duckling stand out.

Composition wise, I would have liked to see more space in front of the duck and less space behind him. Though it looks like there was another duck or something in front of him? When it comes to wildlife shots like this sometimes you have to deal with the composition the animal gives you. Maybe you could try cloning out the other duck (I'm assuming that's what that dark thing is at the left of the picture, I could be wrong). It is a little distracting, but not enough to make me dislike the picture.

All in all I'd say this is a job well done.

[arkusm]

Thanks for taking the time for the feed back, I appreciate it.
You are right I cropped another part duck out on the left side but I couldn't take too much without making the picture too unbalanced. When I get some time I will try and clone out the extra leg! and recrop. I was briefly looking at the crop and realized that the ducks head is not in the "sweet" 1/3 spot so I'll fix that. Thanks again.

Btw this shot of yours is beautiful: 500px / Photo "Golden Afternoon" by Jamie Leigh
Cheers.

Mark

[jcspenny]

You're very welcome. Like I said, shooting animals can be tricky since they have minds of their own. They don't like sitting still and their friends are always sneaking their way into your shot. I think you did very good working with what the duckings gave you.

And thank you! Not just for the compliment but for taking the time to look at my photos. I'm glad you like it.

[arkusm]

jcspenny,

I did a quick stamp and crop job, (not entirely happy with the cloning but I am not printing this so...)
Oh there is no more foreground...

Duckling2 by arkusm, on Flickr
Thanks again! Cheers.

[jcspenny]

Looks great! I like the framing of the new version much better, and had I never seen the original image I never would have guessed that you cloned out the other duckling. Nice work!