The Duck Park....

[allenlennon]

well thats what i called it as a kid! While my sister took my nice and big comfy car to her first day on the job, i had to take her small, cramped car(im a really tall bloke) to Bathurst (45mins away) for its service. And while it was being serviced i thought i might have a go at shooting some ducks.

While taking photos sprawled out laying on the ground of the park snapping away, another bloke came with a coffee and sat on the bench a few feet behind me, and watching. I felt a bit cautious but i went snapping anways. After i got up, he introduced himself and we had a convosation about photography as he is a bird photographer by hobby. Afterwards i went to the fenced up pond, and that fence was too narrow to stick my lens through or to shoot between them so i was resigned to shoot from a higher angle.

Here are the shots that came out:

I love this image:


And a different crop, unsure which one i personally like, but im sure others will like this better:


And one in the water:


Please let me know what you think

I was going to carry on with my 100 strangers project, but i had a few major issues, one, i wanted to use a particular red backdrop with someone with a bit of fashion, ie nice winter coats, scarves, beanies, ect. And two, the background was in a position where if the sun wasnt behind clouds my strangers would have had there eyes squinted. So when the clouds covered the sun no one with the fashion senese i wanted was out, and when the sun was out, the people came with the fashion sense i wanted. And when finally the sun was covered and the ideal dressed person came, i went to ask them, the dealership rang to say the car was ready and i will be picked up soon. I was frustrated none the less. Oh well, next time.

[pnodrog]

Nice soft lighting and the very low viewpoint of the first photograph works really well. I prefer the cropped version as you predicted. Actually I think it should be cropped a bit more say a 16:9. Good water patterns in the other shot but the duck needs to be a bit lighter especially the shadow area.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done, I like the grazing duck shot best.

[gregj1763]

#2 is my pick as well #1 just has too much oof foreground for me and as Paul mentioned great water pattens in #3 but the duck gets a bit lost in there so some duck dodging might be in order in pp.
Don't give up on the 100 strangers, its something worth pursuing and i enjoy the results and stories that come with them

[Mike Buckley]

The second one is clearly the most creative and gives the viewer a sense of how other ducks view the duck.

Sorry to learn about the issue with your strangers project. Even so, it's not a surprise because most things worth doing are not all that easy to do. Once you do pull it off, it will be that much more gratifying.

[allenlennon]

Thanks everyone.

As for the 100 strangers project attempt I really wanted that fashion sense. I think it would be great for that background. I need to invest into a 5 in 1 reflector to help with the bright lights.

[vaez]

nice all shot lovely #2&3 bird is very sharp

[Brownbear]

Hi Allen,

Just to say that I love that image, too. Gorgeous! I'm leaning towards the 1st image, with just a wee bit cropped off of the foreground, and just a wee bit off of the left hand side, keeping all of the beautiful shrubbery in the background.

[deetheturk]

Very nice Allen, #2 for me!

[ied]

I like # 2, as was mentioned, i think it could use more cropping.

Irene

[Kaye Leggett]

I like no 2 best too.

[Nicks Pics]

My favorite is the first one, if you cropped it a bit more to remove some of the blurred foreground. I like the low perspective.

[Stagecoach]

Good set Allen. The grazing duck really shows that if you want to get something good you have to make the effort even if it's just getting real real low.

Grahame

[DanK]

I think the second and third are very nice compositions. The first has too much area devoted to background for my taste. I particularly like the patterns in the water as a background in the third. You caught the light on the water at a great angle.

I do have a suggestion, however. In both the second and third, particularly the third, the ducks are really dark, and some of the interesting detail is obscured (like the teal feathers on the wings). I cropped the smallest rectangle that included each duck, which yielded these histograms for the second and third, respectively:





If they were mine, I would lighten them somewhat and selectively.

[NorthernFocus]

Allen it looks like you spent your time well while waiting for your car. I believe these are Australian Black Ducks. With due respect to those who don't like the isolation in the first shot, we spend a lot of money on wide aperture lenses in order to be able to do just that. So nicely done IMO. In the first version the bird is a bit centered. Cropping to place the head more in center of frame(horizontally) would be preferable. Also there are a couple of bright spots in the BG right above the bird that are distracting. Agree with other that some selective lightening to bring out the feather patterns would help a lot.

I also agree with others that the water in the last shot is really cool. Same comment on bringing out some detail on the duck.