What do you think?

What do you think? Constructive comments appreciated.



More depth of field?

Yeah, I really think increasing the DOF to where each eye was sharp might have benefitted this picture a bit more. But it's still a lovey shot regardless.

@Needa
I really like the reflection! Personally, I like how you have the back bird slightly out of focus, it brings my attention back to the reflection, which I think is more important than whats going on behind the reflection. I think I would have tried to frame the heads of the reflection a little closer to the right hand side showing a little more out of focus ripples on the left, there's just a little too much empty space on the right IMO. Nice capture!

I'm with TwistedThrottle on composition. I would like to see it with the birds moved more to the right, assuming you have some wiggle room in the original image.

And addressing Nikonpup's suggestion, I've successfully, I believe, managed to brighten the eyes on birds using a radial gradient mask in Lightroom. You can center it up and bring it down to just the eye and then bring up the exposure, or perhaps adjust the shadows to bring a bit of sparkle to the eye.

Here's a quick before and after on a rejected image.




I actually played around with exposure, highlights, shadows, and blacks. I may have been able to take it further, but didn't want to overdo, and besides, this was just an example, rather than trying to enhance a keeper. The effect is rather subtle in this example.

I just want to go on record as a foil to TwistedThrottle's composition idea. I like the ducks off-center to the left as I see motion in the photo (by the ripples) and you always need to leave extra space in the composition for the subject to move into empty space in frame (or at least give a place in our minds for them to move to).

I see a cold (blue) color tone, it could use some warming-up in the white balance. But overall I like the photo and personally would not mess with it other than warming up the white balance.

BF Hammer said:

I just want to go on record as a foil to TwistedThrottle's composition idea. I like the ducks off-center to the left as I see motion in the photo (by the ripples) and you always need to leave extra space in the composition for the subject to move into empty space in frame (or at least give a place in our minds for them to move to).

I see a cold (blue) color tone, it could use some warming-up in the white balance. But overall I like the photo and personally would not mess with it other than warming up the white balance.

Click to expand...

Plus one.

Thanks for your input everyone.

So what do you think now?

@Dangerspouse
Interestingly some dehaze seems helped the second duck.

@nikonpup
Brought the eyes up one ev, the color is the same in the unprocessed file.

@TwistedThrottle
This is what it looks like a little closer to the edge.

@Clovishound
Just outlined eyes +1 EV. Thanks for the example.

@BF Hammer
Warmed it a bit think I like it better. The actual scene was close to the stack blue / white contrast in the first image The white is the reflection of the clouds off the water midday. The ripples and the clouds on the water are what got my attention, the space to move into was the reason for the composition, that and the ripples from the upper left of frame.

@blackstar
Thanks

Needa said:

So what do you think now?
@Dangerspouse
Interestingly some dehaze seems helped the second duck.

Click to expand...

That IS interesting. It really seemed to make a difference, didn't it?

I think I'm in the minority here in prefering to see that back duck's eyes/face as sharp as the duck in the foreground. They're just not separated enough for me to think that blur on back duck places more emphasis on the front one. If there was more distance between them AND much more obvious blur on the back duck, then I could see that working. But my own aesthetic tastes - again, just my own - lean towards prefering both subjects sharp in this setting. So for me, this treatment you gave the photo was effective.

Just curious - do you have any of the AI programs, like Topaz?

(Thanks for posting this update. I was curious what you'd tweak on it :encouragement: )

Dangerspouse said:

That IS interesting. It really seemed to make a difference, didn't it?

I think I'm in the minority here in prefering to see that back duck's eyes/face as sharp as the duck in the foreground. They're just not separated enough for me to think that blur on back duck places more emphasis on the front one. If there was more distance between them AND much more obvious blur on the back duck, then I could see that working. But my own aesthetic tastes - again, just my own - lean towards prefering both subjects sharp in this setting. So for me, this treatment you gave the photo was effective.

Just curious - do you have any of the AI programs, like Topaz?

(Thanks for posting this update. I was curious what you'd tweak on it :encouragement: )

Click to expand...

Almost all of my editing is done with darktable on linux, once in chartreuse moon will do something with Gimp.

Dangerspouse said:

That IS interesting. It really seemed to make a difference, didn't it?

I think I'm in the minority here in prefering to see that back duck's eyes/face as sharp as the duck in the foreground.

Click to expand...

Needa, do you remember where you focused for this? There is a little more area in focus behind a focus point rather than in front of it. I wonder if you had focused on the second duck's neck (where the brown and white meet), if that would have allowed you a tad more focus overall.

This app doesn't offer 230mm specifically so I chose the closest option - and I guessed at the distance. If you look on the left side of the graphic, it shows you have less than 4" in focus behind the focus point. So if you had moved the focus point back a little (that's assuming you focused on the closest part of the duck facing the camera), it might have helped bring both ducks into better focus without even changing your aperture.

This app is called Simple DoF. It's a paid app but only requires paying once. This is my go-to app when I need to know depth of field for a subject. However, I don't see any Nikon Z cameras listed. Just DX and FX options for Nikon DSLR's.

hark said:

Needa, do you remember where you focused for this? There is a little more area in focus behind a focus point rather than in front of it. I wonder if you had focused on the second duck's neck (where the brown and white meet), if that would have allowed you a tad more focus overall.

This app doesn't offer 230mm specifically so I chose the closest option - and I guessed at the distance. If you look on the left side of the graphic, it shows you have less than 4" in focus behind the focus point. So if you had moved the focus point back a little (that's assuming you focused on the closest part of the duck facing the camera), it might have helped bring both ducks into better focus without even changing your aperture.

This app is called Simple DoF. It's a paid app but only requires paying once. This is my go-to app when I need to know depth of field for a subject. However, I don't see any Nikon Z cameras listed. Just DX and FX options for Nikon DSLR's.

Click to expand...

The focus point shows as on the lower neck of the closest duck. Maybe could have used the ripples between the two to split the difference. Of course this assumes the camera isn't front or back focusing at 230 MM, lens was calibrated a long time ago and probably close to or at 300mm. Should be checked after this much time but what a PIA, do think the lens is on its way out. I have Hyper-Focal Pro but rarely use it.

Needa said:

View attachment 381096


Thanks for your input everyone.

So what do you think now?

@Dangerspouse
Interestingly some dehaze seems helped the second duck.

@nikonpup
Brought the eyes up one ev, the color is the same in the unprocessed file.

@TwistedThrottle
This is what it looks like a little closer to the edge.

@Clovishound
Just outlined eyes +1 EV. Thanks for the example.

@BF Hammer
Warmed it a bit think I like it better. The actual scene was close to the stack blue / white contrast in the first image The white is the reflection of the clouds off the water midday. The ripples and the clouds on the water are what got my attention, the space to move into was the reason for the composition, that and the ripples from the upper left of frame.

@blackstar
Thanks

Click to expand...

I really like it. Only thing is I would be tempted to remove the blades of grass at the front.

Peter7100 said:

I really like it. Only thing is I would be tempted to remove the blades of grass at the front.

Click to expand...

Thanks

I debated it, in the end just lazy. Think they absolutely should have been removed in the first image for better balance.