You broke the rule of thirds when you placed the mallard dead center which gives the photo a bulls-eye effect. Think of your frame in the camera and then pretend that there is a grid broken down into 3 boxes on top, 3 in the center and 3 on the bottom. Now place the subject of your photo in any of the three boxes, but not in the center box.
You might want to move in for a tighter shot on the mallard and then maybe light it different because the mallard appears very flat because the light looks flat. When shooting outdoor photos, try to shoot early in the morning or late in the afternoon, to get a more dramatic lighting effect. There needs to be more light on the head of the duck, so that it draws the eye of the viewer. I would have zoomed in and cropped out the foreground railing because it effectively cuts off the bottom of your picture. In fact you could have made a more appealing picture had you cropped all the way around the duck, because all of the added background doesn't add to your photo.
Try using cardboard or sheets of paper to crop the image on your monitor and see what look good to you using this method. I use this method a lot and it really helps me properly crop my photos.
It also appears that your camera was slightly tipped when you shot this photo, since the horizon is not horizontal.
Ponder
Message edited by author 2005-03-20 15:15:37. |
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