Picked up a duckling from the Victoria Market for this challenge. The submission is pretty much as shot and the setup was straight forward. A single mono with snoot & honeycomb high on camera right and a black backdrop to help create the shadows at the rear. Rotated the image in post to get it straighter then a little cloning on the floor boards before cropping and USM for web viewing.
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The duckling was returned to the place of purchase a couple of days later. I explained to the vendor that my wife asked me to return it......that excuse always works. :)
Here's an out-take.
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Place: 4 out of 404 Avg (all users): 6.7765 Avg (commenters): 8.6667 Avg (participants): 6.7734 Avg (non-participants): 6.7843 Views since voting: 4192 Views during voting: 309 Votes: 179 Comments: 34 Favorites: 11 (view)
You probably won't believe this, but I was sure this was your shot when I saw it during voting. The floor and lighting are almost identical to your "comfort" entry.
An excellent photo. I hope you didn't take the duckie's doll away too.
Well I can't believe you bought a duck specifically for a dpc challenge... that's what I call dedication!
On the other hand it's a terrific shot - those polished floors seem to serve you very well in challenges here. I'd think about cloning out the reflection of the duck from the floor, but otherwise there's not much I'd change here.
Garry, I was at the Vic market myself thinking about a duck! I just didn't have the heart to eat it afterwards! This shot was very effective and simple, and you deserved a high placement. Congratulations.
Simple and clean presentation. The colors on the little duckling are a soft yellow very much like the downy soft fur covering it's body. The details are lovely and sharp, one could reach out and feel the softness of that downy yellow. The simple spotlight shines it's attention on the main subject and keeps the backdrop and foreground dark which helps to call attention to the main subject by letting it shine in the spotlight. Not to mention the dark background really helps the duckling pop off the page visually. The spotlight also highlights the ground plan. And the rich tones of the wood only add to the rich and warm colors seen here. The only critique I have is that there seems to be a reflection of the little duckling in the polished wood that is a little distracting - I don't know what could have been done during the shoot to eliminate that other than possibly cloning that out in Photoshop but then it would be a question if it was legal or not.
Thought about doing something like this.. perfect time of the year. :) Lighting, focus, reflection.. all are just perfect. I wouldn't be surprised to see this at the very top. Great photo! :)
I LOVE THAT!!!!!! The wood floor is the perfect compliment to the yellow duckling. Perfect light. Love the reflection too. You get my 10 vote on this one. AWWWWWWWW
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