Duckling Eyeing a Snack

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SCoombs

SCoombs

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I'd be lying if I said this wasn't a lucky shot. I was just trying to photograph this duckling and in the middle of a burst it suddenly snapped towards a bug to try to catch it. I was disappointed that because I was trying to minimize ISO here and as a result my shutter speed was slow enough that all the action shots were pretty poor, but I did manage to catch this just before which I thought would compose quite nicely. I only wish the bug were in better focus, but obviously that would have been a different setup all around.
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Winston Churchill (Sir) said:
It's a Iovely duckling - and I like the composition. I also don't have a problem with the OOF bug. I think though the image is under-exposed, and if you have a problem with the grain - some deNoise will go a long way.
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I think it's largely the crop that makes it look slightly grainy. Its already been denoised. Also, the lighting was such that there was relatively strong light on some parts and shadows on others so exposing much more would have blown out significant parts of it.
 
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SCoombs said:
I think it's largely the crop that makes it look slightly grainy. Its already been denoised. Also, the lighting was such that there was relatively strong light on some parts and shadows on others so exposing much more would have blown out significant parts of it.
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I should have added that I meant you can lift the shadows in post processing. This already helps to lift overall exposure. There is some space to lift overall exposure - and if necessary - you can always mask out the brightest areas from the increased exposure. The deep shadows makes the harsh light more noticeable.
 
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Winston Churchill (Sir) said:
I should have added that I meant you can lift the shadows in post processing. This already helps to lift overall exposure. There is some space to lift overall exposure - and if necessary - you can always mask out the brightest areas from the increased exposure. The deep shadows makes the harsh light more noticeable.
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Yes; this is already a relatively heavily edited image. The shadows have been brought up, which makes the noise a bit more apparent, and as noted it's already cropped a fair bit which also makes noise more apparent. I've also masked to balance exposure in the different areas about as far as I think I can without creating a very unnatural look.
 
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SCoombs said:
Yes; this is already a relatively heavily edited image. The shadows have been brought up, which makes the noise a bit more apparent, and as noted it's already cropped a fair bit which also makes noise more apparent. I've also masked to balance exposure in the different areas about as far as I think I can without creating a very unnatural look.
Click to expand...
Please note that if I suggest edits, I don't say it without checking those edits myself. And yes - I can see it is heavily edited already. One can only do so much to rescue some photos. I am confused though - as I am now really not sure what you wanted comments on.
Anyway, it's your image, you are the only one who has to be happy with your image. That's all that counts in the end.
 
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Winston Churchill (Sir) said:
Please note that if I suggest edits, I don't say it without checking those edits myself. And yes - I can see it is heavily edited already. One can only do so much to rescue some photos. I am confused though - as I am now really not sure what you wanted comments on.
Anyway, it's your image, you are the only one who has to be happy with your image. That's all that counts in the end.
Click to expand...

I went back and looked and I see that somehow the grain slider was increased. I may have been trying something at the time; I don't know. Either way, this is what it looks like without that.
NZ8_1499-Enhanced-NR-8.jpg
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Personally I think it’s a great shot. The clarity on the duck is amazing.
I believe in trying to get it right, as much as you can at the time. Post processing should be minimal. Thanks for sharing.
 
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