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I'll Fly Away
I'll Fly Away
GeneralE


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Free Study 2011-01 (Advanced Editing VII)
Collection: Portfolio
Camera: Canon PowerShot S3 IS
Location: Oakland, California, USA
Date: Jan 16, 2011
Aperture: 3.51
ISO: 80
Shutter: 1/101
Galleries: Blur, Birds
Date Uploaded: Jan 18, 2011

 Title from a bluegrass/gospel(?) song.

While taking a break during our excursion in search of a ducky for the Rubber Ducky II challenge, Isaac and I went for a walk around Lake Temescal.

I took some panoramics of the lake and some sun-rays coming through the trees on the ridge on the other side of the lake, and, of course a few of the numerous birds and the odd "arty" or "potential stock" shot.

Finally, as we were about to leave and resume our quest for a duck-like simulacrum, I saw this actual duck headed our way. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of panning and keeping it framed at maximum zoom, but of course by the time I could overcome the autofocus/shutter-lag issue it flew almost directly across the setting sun, blowing out the narrow parts.

What makes me like this more than some other blurry shots is the way, with the heaad/neck and feet both extended and blurred, there's a bit of ambiguousness about which direction it's flying, and also how with all that blurring and over-exposure, there's still a bit of detail about the feathers at the ends of the wings.

-Handheld, Manual mode
-FL = 436mm (35mmEQ)
-Noise-reduction with PictureCooler
-RGB Curve
-Blue/Yellow Curve
-Resize
-USM at 66%/0.6 dia/TH = 5 (applied twice)
-SaveAs JPEG at quality 10/10 = 71KB

Statistics
Place: 299 out of 307
Avg (all users): 3.9444
Avg (commenters): 8.0000
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Avg (non-participants): 4.0227
Views since voting: 979
Views during voting: 203
Votes: 144
Comments: 5
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
Canon EOS-7D Mark II
Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
02/08/2011 03:20:51 PM
The ambiguity drew me to the picture as well. It also reminds me of a Phoenix.
Well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Samsung Galaxy S24, S24+, S24 Ultra
Sony Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm f/4 ZA OSS
 02/08/2011 02:15:11 PM
Congrats on yet another Brown, pal :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Nikon D750
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED
 02/08/2011 01:21:51 AM
Such a cool shot. I would also have pegged this for a crane of some sort, not a duck :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Fujifilm X30
Custom Made Pinhole
 02/05/2011 01:40:44 PM
Like the movement
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM
 02/01/2011 08:26:52 PM
A little blurry, but that makes it different and cool!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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