to me, one of the prettiest ducks that exist is the Wood Duck

Wood Duck, Identification, All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

until this year I had never seen any free flying ones.

this year, several have chosen the ponds at the Topeka Zoological Garden in Topeka KS for a stopping point in their migration and I have posted some of their pictures here but until yesterday my photos were of the "eclipse" phase for the males, not their true beauty. However yesterday, I was teased by a pair - one male and female - swimming just off shore BUT under the extreme shade of some low hanging trees.

Some of these photos show what I was dealing with, plainly visible to the naked eye but extremely dark photos pre PP. others show the effect of some extreme pp (cropping and lighting work).

enjoy (while I go back to the books to see how I could improve the photos without pp)

[C_Jones]

Wood ducks are really colorful and nicely featured. I too see them on occasion in marshes and ponds. When I have low light and am already at the most effective ISO and shutter speed available sometimes I resort to +EV to lighten the scene if possible. I usually use TAV mode when I utilize it.

[aslyfox]

Wood ducks are really colorful and nicely featured. I too see them on occasion in marshes and ponds. When I have low light and am already at the most effective ISO and shutter speed available sometimes I resort to +EV to lighten the scene if possible. I usually use TAV mode when I utilize it.

thanks for the hint

I will have to try it out, I am not happy with how the water of the pond looks after pp was done to help make the ducks visible

[C_Jones]

You're welcome. If you focus on the ducks (wildlife) specifically while testing with the +EV, using Spot metering and Spot AF may render you good relativity results you can evaluate. Of course you can test with other settings, that is just something I have used on a regular basis with success. Also, I want to mention that if you come upon a bright scene and you are satisfied with your settings other than the brightness, the -EV will in most cases eliminate the unwanted brightness improving contrast and in many cases providing a lower ISO if in an auto mode such as TAV mode. Doing gradual increments of the EV while testing will show you what the different EV levels provide.



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Last edited by C_Jones; 09-17-2016 at 10:15 AM.