More Ducks and Squirrels!

[Kyle]

More ducks and squirrels from Mud Lake in Ottawa.

1. Female Black Duck - I like the water in this one but the Duck is not as clear as I'd like. I tried to recover it in pp. It's much better than how it started.


2. Female Black Duck


3. Close up!


4. Can't let the male Black Duck feel left out. The female was wondering in the woods and the male waddled off after her down a trail. It was really cute.


5. American Red Squirrel (I think?) having a snack that someone had left for him. When my friends and I came across him he didn't mind modelling for us until his food was all gone.


6. I think this is one of my best photos so far.



7. I wasn't going to post this many but I like the perspective in this one.


All c&c welcome.

[Paniaa]

Kyle, I think you caught more than an image of a squirrel. He looks so beautiful, but fragile. For me he represents so many wild creatures under threat. Thank you. The ducks are cute.

[IzzieK]

May I be allowed to comment ? --

Ducks:
#1 the duck is nice but the background is distracting. Maybe it will help if you tone it down a tad? I even like the water around the duck there...
#2 is perfect.
#3 no question. I like her expression. Looks like you got a model there eager to pose for you...
#4 this is nice too -- you even got the motion of the leg. Nicely done...

Squirrels:
#5 is perfect. That squirrel is wary of you...how far are you from your subject there?
#6 -- yes. It has that typical pose when it is holding something near its mouth...cute.
#7 . Nice one too...

All nicely done, Kyle...love the ducks.

[Kyle]

Kyle, I think you caught more than an image of a squirrel. He looks so beautiful, but fragile. For me he represents so many wild creatures under threat. Thank you. The ducks are cute.

Thanks Paniaa, I really appreciate your comments.

[FrankMi]

Nice images Kyle! I usually have difficulty getting squirrel images as sharp as these. How close were you able to get without spooking them?

[Kyle]

May I be allowed to comment ? --

Of course you can comment, Izzie. I value and look forward to your comments and criticisms.
I agree with your comment for #1, the green is distracting. I had toned it down before but for some reason I didn't like it. I'll try it again and see if I can make it work.

Nice images Kyle! I usually have difficulty getting squirrel images as sharp as these. How close were you able to get without spooking them?

Thanks Frank.

To answer you and Izzie,

I was maybe two or three feet from the Squirrel. Someone had left some food on a log that was on the edge of the trail. He didn't seem to care at all that we were there. Any time anyone else walked by he would run behind the log for a second until they walked by and then would jump back up to continue his feast. We were there for 5 or 10 minutes until he ate all the food.

[Kyle]

Here's that updated first shot. I reduced the sharpness of the background to attempt to make it less distracting. I also did a bit of sharpening.

[bnnrcn]

Edit looks much better Kyle and I also like the other shots, especially #6

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.