I took this photo on a walk one morning some time ago. I was so excited how close this mama duck let me approach. I then submitted it to a photo critique website and I got back some helpful hints. First I had to overcome the fear of encountering trolls. But it was overall a very helpful experience.
I noticed you said you were
a beginner in another comment. There is a rule of thumb that your
shutter speed should be at least your focal length. Some people use 2x
focal length (everyone has different hands/stability).
So since this was shot at 200mm, your shutter should be at least 1/200s if not 1/400s. You could nudge the ISO up to compensate for the reduced exposure. Hope it helps! Personally I think it's a great photo, and keep shooting!!
Nina edit: instead of boosting ISO to compensate for increasing the shutter speed, using a wider aperture (smaller F-stop number) may be preferable.
I like it - IMO though, I would remove the stem coming up the duck's neck and clean up the blue back drop and remove some of those stray leaves at the edges of the photo. It'll have a nicer appeal on the eyes and won't appear to be too busy.
I'm getting sick of seeing the same damn advice to straight up Photoshop doctor, cut, and splice every photo posted here so that there isn't a stray or slightly distracting (or interesting) element to it. This is great advice if you want to produce generic greeting card "photos", but this isn't for fashion magazine portrait. It's a picture of a duck in grass, advising to remove the grass is asinine. It's quickly goes from a cool photo of "duck in grass" to "uninspired preconception of what I think a duck in grass should be".
So since this was shot at 200mm, your shutter should be at least 1/200s if not 1/400s. You could nudge the ISO up to compensate for the reduced exposure. Hope it helps! Personally I think it's a great photo, and keep shooting!!
Nina edit: instead of boosting ISO to compensate for increasing the shutter speed, using a wider aperture (smaller F-stop number) may be preferable.
I personally would stop
down a little, because some of the highlights look ever so slightly
washed out, and perhaps have used a longer lens, but overall everything
looks fairly natural.
This is a pretty good photo, especially if you are an amateur photographer. I would say that you should stick with it, and you'll only get better. Nature Photography is extremely difficult, and I highly respect you for going for it. I personally do not have the patience.
This is a pretty good photo, especially if you are an amateur photographer. I would say that you should stick with it, and you'll only get better. Nature Photography is extremely difficult, and I highly respect you for going for it. I personally do not have the patience.
I like it - IMO though, I would remove the stem coming up the duck's neck and clean up the blue back drop and remove some of those stray leaves at the edges of the photo. It'll have a nicer appeal on the eyes and won't appear to be too busy.
I'm getting sick of seeing the same damn advice to straight up Photoshop doctor, cut, and splice every photo posted here so that there isn't a stray or slightly distracting (or interesting) element to it. This is great advice if you want to produce generic greeting card "photos", but this isn't for fashion magazine portrait. It's a picture of a duck in grass, advising to remove the grass is asinine. It's quickly goes from a cool photo of "duck in grass" to "uninspired preconception of what I think a duck in grass should be".
Overall it was a consistent bump up the shutter speed.
I was at 100 ISO, F/8 Shutter Speed 1/160 and at 200mm
So since I was at 200mm I needed to be at least at 1/200 if not 1/400.
Another lesson learned!
