Ducks - CC

[Abby Rose]

Here are some pictures of my ducks from last spring. One of the drakes, Cade, was attacked on Thursday by some predator and died of his injuries on Friday. I'm really going to miss him.

A

B - not as sure about this one... something seems more "off" to me. Am I right?

C - is this "artistic blur", or just blur?

D - same here - artistic blur or not? I kind of liked the flowers.

 

[Jacki]

Very nice! Sorry to hear about your loss though. =/

1. I don't really have any critique for this one. I like it. It seems like they are posing for you.

2. What seems off to me is that it is noisy, blurry, and the brightness is off. Maybe try some PP?

3. Its a great shot, but it's blurry, which definitely takes away from the shot, imo.

4. Another really great shot, but it's blurry. Maybe on these last two blurry ones, you could make it more of an artistic blur in PP?

Overall very beautiful!

 

[bazooka]

Overall, it looks like you shot during a nice time of day and the area appears to have some nice potential. However, I feel like your shots are really lacking. I understand these shots are probably very important to you because one of the ducks is no longer with you, but from purely a C&C perspective:

#1. Understand that light draws attention. The light and composition in this shot suggest to me that the bright green background is a secondary subject because that's where my eyes are drawn to, but I'm not rewarded with anything when going there. The intended subject is in the dark shadow which takes away much of it's dominance. It is worth mentioning that this is the sharpest and most in-focus shot of the set, but it still seems that the focal plane is in front of the ducks on that piece of grass interesecting the back ducks head.

#2. This would be an ok silhouette shot if the ducks were in focus. However, you focused well behind them. This one is probably the best composed of the four.

#3. I don't see anything sharp in this one. Your shutter speed is 1/100 which is borderline for 70mm cropped. The focus may be off as well, but it's hard for me to tell.

#4. Shutter speed and focal distance is the same and there is obvious motion blur. If you are shooting close to (1/focal distance * crop factor), you need to take extra caution to hold the camera still when shooting. Your ISO was only 160 so you could have pushed that to compensate, allowing for faster shutter speeds.

Keep at it!

 

[Abby Rose]

Thanks. You guys have helped.

Note: the ducks were not still - at all. These were my attempts to follow them with the camera. :er: Not great, I know, but I plan on getting better.

 

[Jacki]

Maybe try a faster shutter speed? I am also trying to get better with getting good shots of moving targets.

 

[mishele]

#1 I like the back lighting of the grass. Its making some nice contrasts in the greens going from the light in the front to the dark in the back. The ducks beak gets lost in the tree trunk which is unfortunate. I also would of liked a closer crop on the ducks and a better focus. Keep shooting!!!!

 

[bazooka]

Thanks. You guys have helped.

Note: the ducks were not still - at all. These were my attempts to follow them with the camera. :er: Not great, I know, but I plan on getting better.

The problem is not the ducks moving, but your hands holding the camera. 1/100th is fine for slow moving ducks.

Next time, I recommend using manual focus in this environment because any one of those blades of grass could catch the focus. The camera AF is smart, but not that smart.

 

[PerfectlyFlawed]

1 is very nice!
...2,3,4 however; are a little on the out of focused and blurry side ( to me ).

Try using a different shutter speed?

 

[Abby Rose]

The problem is not the ducks moving, but your hands holding the camera. 1/100th is fine for slow moving ducks.

I hate to sound like I'm making excuses, but ducks are faster than you think. Not fast like a running dog or a bicycle, but these guys sure weren't walking. And to a girl with no practice in these things... well, it seems fast. But I will practice. (nods) Manual focus, check. Another great suggestion.

I can't wait till the snow melts down enough that its not above these guys heads anymore, so I can try this sort of thing again! Though it might be good to try now, while the snow is too deep for them to run.

 

[mrmacedonian]

I think he just means as far as the blurry effect on the picture, your hands moving and shaking have a proportionally larger effect. If you had the camera on a tripod with a trigger (not the point i know, but..) and the ducks running in front of it, he's saying 1/100th shutter speed would be sufficient to effectively 'stop' their motion and give a sharp photo.