Duck fine art

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Blue tit photo

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Today I was walking in the park and I spotted a few mallards. They were extremely tame and I managed to get a one "fine art shot". At least I think it could be one(sort of). All comments appreciated
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I always regret critiquing other's work. I am not a pro and have my own tastes. That said, I think it has an artistic quality. I would sharpen it a bit maybe with Topaz denoise, and adjust the sliders a bit in editing, maybe use an ellipse tool on the head in lightroom to make it pop then add a light touch of vignette to highlight the head.

It's a cool closeup
 
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Hut said:
I always regret critiquing other's work. I am not a pro and have my own tastes. That said, I think it has an artistic quality. I would sharpen it a bit maybe with Topaz denoise, and adjust the sliders a bit in editing, maybe use an ellipse tool on the head in lightroom to make it pop then add a light touch of vignette to highlight the head.

It's a cool closeup
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Thanks for taking the time to respond. I actually sharpened it with Topaz sharpen AI. I will try messing around with the sliders.
 
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You have some beautiful detail and color in the eye and head, and the nicely lit ruffled feathers just below the face. I think it could be refined by cropping about half of the background at the top, moving the eye and head up from the center. If there is any room available you might try adding some space in the lower portion, to show more of the light colored feathers in the lower left and right. I like how the two light areas frame the head and point towards it. Hut’s ideas of some selective vignetting would further emphasize the area of most interest, the face. I hope this is useful to you.
 
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JSD said:
You have some beautiful detail and color in the eye and head, and the nicely lit ruffled feathers just below the face. I think it could be refined by cropping about half of the background at the top, moving the eye and head up from the center. If there is any room available you might try adding some space in the lower portion, to show more of the light colored feathers in the lower left and right. I like how the two light areas frame the head and point towards it. Hut’s ideas of some selective vignetting would further emphasize the area of most interest, the face. I hope this is useful to you.
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Something like that?
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Blue tit photo said:
Today I was walking in the park and I spotted a few mallards. They were extremely tame and I managed to get a one "fine art shot". At least I think it could be one(sort of). All comments appreciatedView attachment 15641
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Hey good to see your not scared to put your work up.

I find its an excellent way to learn I shore did.

I feel You always need to please yourself first, its what you like that counts.
Its no good being told what you want to hear as it does you no good.

Looking at an image I use 3 principals.
A image should
1) convey a message, story, evoke an emotion for the viewer.
2) be technically sound.
3) have a WOW factor.

Now using these 3 points how would you rate the image.

I feel the subject is doing something, resting in a peaceful manner, keeping one eye open, maybe for predator's or people, so in their is a little bit of a message.
Normally the image has me asking would it have been better to have a little more of its environment included, this may add to the story or message. However a tight shot like this also works. Would the image work better with a little more cropped of the bottom, its personal and up to you to see what enhances and what doesn't, don't be worried to flip the image and see what it dose.

Technically its acceptable, however the highlights on each side are a little distracting and draws the eye away from the actual point of interest being the head.
I think looking at your settings, EV, Dynamic focus area, this may be best served by Steve who has many books available on how to get best results in focusing and dynamic focusing.


Cropping in harder and vig netting slightly may add a little more impact ? at the moment the eye hits the head and shoots off to the sides where the bright light is.

Overall a nice image with potential.

As always only and opinion

Oz down Under
 
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Etching House said:
Hey good to see your not scared to put your work up.

I find its an excellent way to learn I shore did.

I feel You always need to please yourself first, its what you like that counts.
Its no good being told what you want to hear as it does you no good.

Looking at an image I use 3 principals.
A image should
1) convey a message, story, evoke an emotion for the viewer.
2) be technically sound.
3) have a WOW factor.

Now using these 3 points how would you rate the image.

I feel the subject is doing something, resting in a peaceful manner, keeping one eye open, maybe for predator's or people, so in their is a little bit of a message.
Normally the image has me asking would it have been better to have a little more of its environment included, this may add to the story or message. However a tight shot like this also works. Would the image work better with a little more cropped of the bottom, its personal and up to you to see what enhances and what doesn't, don't be worried to flip the image and see what it dose.

Technically its acceptable, however, the highlights on each side are a little distracting and draws the eye away from the actual point of interest being the head.
I think looking at your settings, EV, Dynamic focus area, this may be best served by Steve who has many books available on how to get best results in focusing and dynamic focusing.


Cropping in harder and vignetting slightly may add a little more impact? at the moment the eye hits the head and shoots off to the sides where the bright light is.

Overall a nice image with potential.

As always only and opinion

Oz down Under
Click to expand...
Have you checked the new edit. I think that your advice is very helpful, but there are two things: I shoot with Canon, not Nikon and the second one my camera is seven years old, so it is possible to choose only one or all focus points. You can't choose any other number.
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Say for Nikon we have what we call matrix, center weight, spot metering.
Matrix metering evaluates multiple or overall segments of a scene to determine the best exposure by essentially splitting the scene into sections, evaluating either 420-segments or 1,005 segments, depending on the Nikon D-SLR in use.

Metering is used to measure the brightness of the subject. ... Normally the camera uses matrix metering, in which it divides a wide area of the frame into multiple segments and sets exposure based on a variety of information, including subject brightness and color.
You can choose one of the tree.

Steve has a whole segment on this, you should drop him a note he has this area comprehensively drilled down. Its a very good book.

Oz down under
 
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Say for Nikon we have what we call matrix, center weight, spot metering.
Matrix metering evaluates multiple segments of a scene to determine the best exposure by essentially splitting the scene into sections, evaluating either 420-segments or 1,005 segments, depending on the Nikon D-SLR in use.
Blue tit photo said:
Have you checked the new edit. I think that your advice is very helpful, but there are two things: I shoot with Canon, not Nikon and the second one my camera is seven years old, so it is possible to choose only one or all focus points. You can't choose any other number.View attachment 15755
Click to expand...

Ok in this case when you stand back and look at it it defiantly draws your eye directly to the eye and it defiantly has a greater engagement or connection, the eye and head is now the key feature. Its like the bird is staring right at you, much more powerful and engaging. The image now has come forward I think you also added a little vignette.

I would try a little Vivasa out of Nik software and just Pop the eye ball with a tad of contrast, it should really pierce through and connect even more.

Oz down Under
 
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Etching House said:
Say for Nikon we have what we call matrix, center weight, spot metering.
Matrix metering evaluates multiple segments of a scene to determine the best exposure by essentially splitting the scene into sections, evaluating either 420-segments or 1,005 segments, depending on the Nikon D-SLR in use.


Ok in this case when you stand back and look at it it defiantly draws your eye directly to the eye and it defiantly has a greater engagement or connection, the eye and head is now the key feature. Its like the bird is staring right at you, much more powerful and engaging. The image now has come forward I think you also added a little vignette.

I would try a little Vivasa out of Nik software and just Pop the eye ball with a tad of contrast, it should really pierce through and connect even more.

Oz down Under
Click to expand...
I used spot metering. I was in manual mode.
 
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I use spot metering rarely, however it works brilliantly when used properly, (Check out Steve's book on this) I don't like spot if in a scene if there is a extremely bright portion in the key subject or in the frame as the whites are usually blown a little to much so I choose using it very carefully when and where it fits or stay with Matrix..

I find this issue of blown highlights to be less so in center weighted and even less so again in matrix, for me using Matrix is overall safer and lets me focus on composition and not missing the shots rather than dealing with settings on the run. Now there are a lot of people who use spot perfectly well...........for everything.

For 90% of what I do, as a general set up I choose manual, F7.1 -07ev, 3200-4000 shutter speed float the iso to 6400 continues high, 9 or 25 points focus and it lets me completely forget about the camera and focus on subjects, composition, and getting the money shot in all conditions. Of course in controlled situations I do change the settings but as an all round walking in the Bush or woods, streets or covering all subjects even portraits in the field........ I set and forget. If I want I can jump to F2.8 or F11 for that desired effect if time permits, I don't have to worry about doing anything else other than point and shoot.

I only shoot for skin tones or whites, its easier to recover shadows than to recover blown whites. I mostly use a D850 as I sold the D4s d5. Don't laugh 90% of the time I only shoot jpeg Fine or TIFF RGB if its important, RAW is far better than Jpegs but gee the Jpegs are so so good on a D850. Also I don't have subscription Adobe LR or PS.

There is no right or wrong in anything, you have to do what works for you. I still listen and learn everyday, Steve has some brilliant books on all of this in fact I bought a few myself.

So I guess spot is perfect as long as I am mindful of what's immediately around the scene as well.

Only an opinion

OZ down under
 
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