30 minutes in Mishawaka

[Plumcrak]

The one good thing about working out of town for a couple days is that there is this neat little park area that I have been attracted to.
I had a little bit of time to kill so off I went and this is what I came up with

C&C appreciated.

This fella was cooperative until I got too close...geese are pretty darned fast.
1.

Rough landing on the river
2.

...but he found what he was looking for.
3.

4.

Got an itch?
5.

Bottoms up!!
6.

I think I needed a little more depth!!
7.

8.

[AndrewMcD]

Nice series, time well spent! I particularly like #3 for the ambience, #5 for the color and clarity and #6 for a duck butt shot in a unique setting!
Andrew

[Plumcrak]

Thanks Andrew. It might have been a little more than 30 minutes but who is counting when having fun!!

[John 2]

Nice series Jon. My only thought is that the last one doesn't need the OOF flowers on the left in the last one. A portrait crop my work there.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[IzzieK]

All good ones...I just have a nit on #5 and 7 -- I didn't like that fuzzy glass look. It is dIZZIE-ing?

#1 is very clear...#2 I like the splash of water. I am glad you didn't do a long exposure there...#3 is a wow, what a story! #6 is cute...that will be one on my list -- an upsided down bird. At the moment the crows are flying backward here and it is hard to show it...#8 and #4 will make a good image for water refraction like what Frank Miller twice has...(but who's counting?)

[psuk31]

I just love the shot of number 5 and 6. Excellent timing.

[Downrigger]

Nice set. All darn good for "a little time to kill".

[Plumcrak]

Nice series Jon. My only thought is that the last one doesn't need the OOF flowers on the left in the last one. A portrait crop my work there.

John, thanks for the comments. I went back and forth with #8...take the OOF flowers out, put them back...and I always came back to the way it is. For me the OOF flowers don't detract from the image at all.

[Plumcrak]

Nice series.

Thanks John.

[Plumcrak]

All good ones...I just have a nit on #5 and 7 -- I didn't like that fuzzy glass look. It is dizzy-ing?

#1 is very clear...#2 I like the splash of water. I am glad you didn't do a long exposure there...#3 is a wow, what a story! #6 is cute...that will be one on my list -- an upsided down bird. At the moment the crows are flying backward here and it is hard to show it...#8 and #4 will make a good image for water refraction like what Frank Miller twice has...(but who's counting?)

Izzie, thanks for the comments. I agree with you on the background on #5 & #7. I should had more DOF

The Duck Butt was just too funny to pass up.

[Plumcrak]

I just love the shot of number 5 and 6. Excellent timing.

Thank you Jannatul.

[Plumcrak]

Nice set. All darn good for "a little time to kill".

Thanks Mark. It might have been an hour, not really sure. I was just having fun so time didn't really matter much.

[Nancy Moran G]

Nice way to spend 30 minutes. I cannot tell you how that clarity is ....well just superb! Feels like I could touch them all.
Nancy

[Stagecoach]

Great series John,

For me it's No 6 as I find it quite humorous in that does the duck know what's just about to happen, but No 8 really stands out from the crowd and I love the way you have managed such good isolation and inclusion of the ground.

Grahame

[Plumcrak]

Nice way to spend 30 minutes. I cannot tell you how that clarity is ....well just superb! Feels like I could touch them all.
Nancy

Nancy, thank you for the kind comments. I love this little park, I always come away with something interesting.

[Plumcrak]

Great series John,

For me it's No 6 as I find it quite humorous in that does the duck know what's just about to happen, but No 8 really stands out from the crowd and I love the way you have managed such good isolation and inclusion of the ground.

Grahame

Thanks Grahame. The duck Butt was quite a crop and I may be able to do something else with the original.

this is SOOC

[bnnrcn]

Very nice series Jon. I would crop the half of the big rock from the top in #3, very nice image. #6 is a really funny shot and I love #8

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Jon,

You may dislike me for drawing your attention to this
But I hope it helps you (and others) recognise when it is a danger and take steps to minimise it.

I couldn't help noticing that you have some background bokeh issues with #5 and #7 - a 'double edge' effect on the grasses - I know because I recognise this from my own experience.

I see from the EXIF data that these were shot with the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS II at the full 250mm focal length and wide open, additional factors contributing to this effect being so visible in these two shots are that you have background grasses of a particular size and these are brightly lit and some are light in colour in front of a darker background tone. With different picture content in other shots, you won't even notice it.

As I said, (sadly) I recognise them from my own experience using my Nikon 70-300mm lens, particularly when used at maximum focal length and aperture - and that experience has taught me that using f/8 or f/11 significantly reduces this nasty 'double edge' effect, compared to shooting wide open at f/5.6.

Further, it helps if you selectively sharpen only the subject in PP (post processing), avoiding applying sharpening or contrast enhancement to these (usually background) troublesome elements. I find this a heck of a problem with reeds too; as they're usually a light yellow in colour and often sunlit, when shooting waterfowl in front of them.

I rarely publish my shots that exhibit this effect, as I personally detest it, but here is a similar-ish (Nikon) example, still visible even after I had tried to minimise it by using f/8 and with careful PP, although that was 4 years ago and I think I do better at hiding it these days (and produce better shots).

Hope that helps,

[ST1]

Looks like it was time well spent Jon, a nice series.