Right away when the challenge was announced, I knew what I wanted to photograph. There is a family of ducks that lives near us. I had wanted to take a photo of the mother and father duck with their 4 ducklings. But the weather was crappy and we didn’t see them for several days. Then yesterday the mother shows up with only two ducklings. Camera at hand, I’m off to see what I can get.
Turns out ducks and ducklings are TOUGH to photograph (I want to say tough to shoot but it gives the wrong impression). They are fast, skittish around long barrel lenses and they don’t take direction well. So I shoot maybe 200 pictures trying for one good one.
I was able to get 3 decent photos of the mother and one or two ducklings but the color was poor, the lighting poor and I was dissatisfied. I did have a few photos of one or two ducklings that were so darn cute but I worry the challenge Nazis will be overly critical that I don’t have a platonic nuclear duck family. We'll see.
So I am scouting around for a title and come across the children’s story “Make Way for Ducklings” by Robert McCloskey. Maybe that will work for the title.
In case you don’t know the story, here’s a synopsis: Mr. & Mrs. Mallard are looking for a place to live. Every time Mr. Mallard finds a place, Mrs. Mallard says it is not a good place to raise a family. They finally decide on a place in Boston along the Charles River. Mrs. Mallard has eight ducklings and decides to leave the Charles River site and settle in the Boston Commons. The trip from the river to the Commons becomes quite a problem for Michael, the policeman, who oversees the adventure.
I like the photo. The ducks are cute. It may be a challenge stretch … I guess the voters will decide. Enjoy!
Post Processing
Reduce Noise (Neat Image)
Rotate (5.2 degrees)
Crop
Levels (RGB)
Clone out a couple of bright spots
Sharpen (lab color method w/ USM)
Resize
Save for Web
Camera Data
Nikon D70
2005/07/08 17:25:06.2
JPEG (8-bit) Fine
Image Size: Large (3008 x 2000)
Lens: VR 70-200mm F/2.8 G
Focal Length: 200mm
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Center-Weighted
1/750 sec - F/9.5
Exposure Comp.: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 1600
Optimize Image: Vivid
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-S
Flash Sync Mode: Not Attached
Color Mode: Mode IIIa (sRGB)
Tone Comp: Auto
Hue Adjustment: 0°
Saturation: Normal
Sharpening: Auto
Image Comment:
Noise Reduction: OFF
Statistics
Place: 46 out of 159 Avg (all users): 5.5927 Avg (commenters): 6.2941 Avg (participants): 5.5341 Avg (non-participants): 5.6250 Views since voting: 1106 Views during voting: 348 Votes: 248 Comments: 18 Favorites: 0
I really like the composition/focus/exposure of this image but it looks like it was taken at a very high ISO, and the color-noise really detracts from the image. You might also try switching the picture to B&W, as noise is more common in B&W pictures.
Great composition. They are so cute! Good DOF, but I think the glare on the water is a bit distracting (IMHO). I think that if the lighting/highlights were toned down, the colors on the ducklings and the water, as well as the DOF, would really stand out more. Still a nice shot. 6
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