Selection from today

Rubber Soul · 26 Dec 2017

A selection from my local pond.

Female Mallard reflection by Gary Cantwell, on Flickr

Male Goosander by Gary Cantwell, on Flickr

Juvenile Mute swan 2 by Gary Cantwell, on Flickr

Jannyfox · 26 Dec 2017

Lovely light on that mallard.

Rubber Soul · 26 Dec 2017

Jannyfox said:
Lovely light on that mallard.

Thanks for viewing and commenting Jan.

wezza13 · 26 Dec 2017

Excellent light on the first, Gary. Luvverly

Kodiak Qc · 26 Dec 2017

Jannyfox said:
Lovely light on that mallard.

wezza13 said:
Excellent light on the first, Gary. Luvverly

I disagree with these statements!

The light is dead flat and very harsh. Contrary to the
Goosander, the Mallard looks 2D! Granted, it is still a
cool take because of the warm tones and the reflect-
ions in the water though… and it is sharp.

A tad tonal taming would improve the rendition.

Rubber Soul · 27 Dec 2017

wezza13 said:
Excellent light on the first, Gary. Luvverly

Thank you Wez.

Rubber Soul · 27 Dec 2017

Kodiak Qc said:
I disagree with these statements!

The light is dead flat and very harsh. Contrary to the
Goosander, the Mallard looks 2D! Granted, it is still a
cool take because of the warm tones and the reflect-
ions in the water, though… and it is sharp.

A tad tonal taming would improve the rendition.

Thanks for commenting Daniel.
I don't understand what you mean the light is "dead flat and harsh" on the mallard image.

Kodiak Qc · 28 Dec 2017

Rubber Soul said:
I don't understand what you mean the light is "dead flat and harsh" on the mallard image.

Dead flat
A light is said "dead flat" when it produces no shadow. For
example this Mallard scene where the light source is almost
perfectly behind the camera. That directionality will leave no
surface unlit so the light will hit every part with equal power.

Harsh
A light is said harsh when it produces hard shadows. This
implies a small light source that can be — to make it even
harsher — far from the subject. Here, the light source is the
Sun — though it is known that our star is much bigger than
our planet, it is nonetheless at height light minutes from this
Mallard and no clouds in the sky to diffuse it. The same ap-
plies at 95% to the Swan shot.

The image of the Goosander is also very harsh but lit from
camera left… and still no clouds to diffuse it; the bird looks
more like 3D because of the directionality of the light.
—
Personally, I would have tamed it tonally so to pull out more
details and texture subtracted by the flat light condition.

Here are two suggestions to attenuate the dead flat light …
Note that your picture was very well recorded and sharp, it
should not be difficult to tweak it!

futurelegend · 28 Dec 2017

Lovely,I particularly like the first photo.

pooley · 28 Dec 2017

Having the light directly behind you works perfectly on the mallard, it should be something we all aspire to getting right on a 'standard' shot. Only you know if the WB is correct, it does look a little to yellow to me, but sometimes we get lucky with the really sweet light! The swirls in the water add a nice touch as well.

The Goosander looks good, but the angle of the swan moving away from you isn't my favourite. Good timing and pose on the swan though

Mike

Rubber Soul · 28 Dec 2017

Kodiak Qc said:
Dead flat
A light is said "dead flat" when it produces no shadow. For
example this Mallard scene where the light source is almost
perfectly behind the camera. That directionality will leave no
surface unlit so the light will hit every part with equal power.

Harsh
A light is said harsh when it produces hard shadows. This
implies a small light source that can be — to make it even
harsher — far from the subject. Here, the light source is the
Sun — though it is known that our star is much bigger than
our planet, it is nonetheless at height light minutes from this
Mallard and no clouds in the sky to diffuse it. The same ap-
plies at 95% to the Swan shot.

The image of the Goosander is also very harsh but lit from
camera left… and still no clouds to diffuse it; the bird looks
more like 3D because of the directionality of the light.
—
Personally, I would have tamed it tonally so to pull out more
details and texture subtracted by the flat light condition.

Here are two suggestions to attenuate the dead flat light …
Note that your picture was very well recorded and sharp, it
should not be difficult to tweak it!

Thanks very much for the explanation and taking the time to re-edit my image.
I went back into PS and did some selective sharpening, NR and some H&S on the duck.

Female Mallard reflection HS by Gary Cantwell, on Flickr

Rubber Soul · 28 Dec 2017

futurelegend said:
Lovely,I particularly like the first photo.

Thank you for viewing and commenting.

Rubber Soul · 28 Dec 2017

pooley said:
Having the light directly behind you works perfectly on the mallard, it should be something we all aspire to getting right on a 'standard' shot. Only you know if the WB is correct, it does look a little to yellow to me, but sometimes we get lucky with the really sweet light! The swirls in the water add a nice touch as well.

The Goosander looks good, but the angle of the swan moving away from you isn't my favourite. Good timing and pose on the swan though

Mike

Thanks Mike for your comments and input much appreciated.
The WB is about right, in the BG (unseen in image) there is some reeds which give of a yellow glow early in the morning.