The featured jaunty Mallard Drake is on a food finding expedition with three additional Mallards in tow. Where are the other three Mallards, you might ask. Well, they got cropped. I wanted to focus on the lead Mallard. His metallic blue head and purple in the wings with rust brown breast feathers made for, in my opinion, a compelling shot. Would there have been other ways to have composed the image? Absolutely, and we are going to explore some of those today!
The making of a jaunty Mallard
Here is the entire image, the file, directly from my camera:
As you can see, I cropped the original image extensively to isolate the lead Mallard. I couldn’t let myself be distracted by all four ducks. I wanted for them to get out just a little bit further but this jaunty Mallard and his gang weren’t really in the mood for a photo session. They all turned away from me immediately after this capture and only gave me their tail feathers to photograph. The second duck, a hen did not have good lighting. I could probably touch that up but I try to limit editing unless I’m going for an abstract print.
The ins and outs of a great nature photograph
All I really had was the jaunty Mallard in the lead to work with so that is what I did. I wish I could have caught the entire reflection of his head but the floating weed mass prevented me from doing so.
Here is a rough composition of the lead Mallard and Mallard hen:
There could be more editing work done on the above image but I didn’t really feel it was going anywhere so I basically put it in a file called ‘Cutting Room Floor.’ Just didn’t quite pass the initial review.
Capturing moments
Photography is a thrill for me. Capturing moments in time. Nature at its best. That is my pursuit. What follows is a chatty Wood duck in a tree. The photo is a ‘conversation piece’ of sorts, so says my Mentor, Richard. I agree!
The above photo may appear in my Wood duck Gallery. Drop a line if you would like to see it there! Additionally, I have a blog post on Wood ducks. Check it out here!
Closing
I thought I would go through a surface look of what is involved in bringing a photo of a jaunty Mallard to life. It is more than just stepping out and snapping a shot of the first thing you see. There is composition and lighting. In water, a reflection may be key. Additionally, the sky may play a role in the final image – or it may be central to the image. Timing is everything with skies as it is with most things, be it a jaunty Mallard or a chatty Wood duck. Emotion, movement, feeding behaviors are all elements that go into a great shot – a wall hanger! I hope you enjoyed a little behind the curtain look at what it is that I do! As always, Peace.
