2015 Project 52, first quarter/Connie Keyes/CLK

[CLK]

I am hoping that if a project can go beyond 52 weeks I can jump in a bit late. This project will be of pictures taken at a local Garden/Park, the park includes Rhododendrons, lake and many geese and ducks. I managed to pretty consistently go and take pictures through October 2013, the spring and summer of 2014 and have not been there for several months. I thought a full year of documentation would be beneficial building a habit of taking pictures as well as improve my limited skills.

This first picture is of the resident Wood ducks.

[IzzieK]

Awwww...these are beautiful ducks I have been teasing some members as might be a good candidate for the Peking pot. Let us hope this post gets up to the top of the looking order so people can see what you have here...!!! Good for you for joining in. Don't forget to comment on other posters too so they get to know you too not just in your post but in theirs. All of us have that sort of ego trip too you know...we like to know that you noticed our shots too.

Cheers...

[purplehaze]

Welcome to Project 52, Connie! I'm glad to see so many people aboard. Your ducks are lovely; nice colour and details in the feathers, good separation from the background. A touch more depth of field may have been in order, to get the eye of the bird on the right sharp, but nice job! I look forward to more!

[ShaneS]

Welcome aboard Connie! Those are some pretty ducks

I will look forward to seeing more of your work and don't worry about straying too far as I think that your part of the world is really beautiful.

[Shadowman]

Nice entry. Have fun!

[marlunn]

nice, good capture of the colours in the feathers, now all you need to do is carry a few grains to drop at the ground and get them to turn around to say hello

[Mark von Kanel]

Welcome Connie. joining late is forgivable.... Leave early and we will come and getcha!!

[CLK]

Last summer I carried a bag of cracked corn in the back of the car and some peanuts, my family was always giving me a hard time about my scoop and bags. I wasn't really prepared for the intensity of the color this early in the year, guess I thought they put those fancy clothes on only during mating. I am looking forward to the spring when all of the little ones are hatched again.

[CLK]

I am beginning to realize I am an impulsive shooter and even once I look at the photo afterwards I don't see those little detail, because I am immersed in the cold and excitement of seeing the birds so close. That's why I decided to start early this year and see if I can regain some of my details skills, if I had them to begin with or just really good impulses.

[Kaye Leggett]

This capture made me smile - ducks the world over are so expressive, you could easily make a story from this shot.

[CLK]

I have two pictures for this second week of Project 52. Already I'm cheating, rather waiting until I got to the Garden that I was using for this project I decided to catch this morning's sunrise. This is taken down the street and around a corner in my neighborhood so have to do some cropping to get rid of the houses . I'm posting two because my husband thinks the second picture is a better picture because on the left you can see Mt. Hood (Oregon USA), I think maybe the tree on that side may be distracting. It has no PP other than cropping some of the black hills off the bottom. My husband says the colors are closer to the actual sunrise.



This one after cropping in LR5 I used a preset with an HDR look. This is a slightly different angle and crop I think this one makes the sunrise more dramatic and balanced.

[mknittle]

Nice job Connie I like the second one.

[wilgk]

good job, i ind of like a blend between the 2 if thats not too contrary!

[IzzieK]

Carol ... there is something that bothers me in #1 but I like the blending. #2 is excellent...autumn-mee in colour. Sunsets are beautiful...I like them.