[VikingDave]

The background seemed to take away from the beautiful color of the ducks, so I made everything but the ducks grayscale. Feel free to critique. I'm thinking about making a 20" print from this for my office and would like some input on ways to improve before printing.

Thanks in advance.

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I'm sorry but when I see selective colour, I can't click out of the page fast enough and I suspect that's why you haven't had a response. If you work for Hallmark, I suppose it would be ok for your office wall. Apart from that, no comment.

[VikingDave]

So it's not a real photograph if the background is grayscaled?

I did that because I really like the shot and the color of the duck, but unfortunately the background washed it out quite a bit. I was hoping to gain something by doing the selective color. So, if I go full grayscale, it's artistic, but if I add color it into grayscale, it reminds everyone of some cheesy Kim Anderson photo?

I guess I've got a long way to go, and much to learn.

A lot of us see the selective colour thing as something that's been over done. It is a personal thing though so if you like it, print it, visitors to your office may not be so underwhelmed as us hardened photographers.
The reality of this image is that you have a very busy background and if not for that, it would be a nice picture even in full colour. Setting the background to greyscale has neutralised it to an extent but the elements that make it busy are still there.

As for having much to learn, we all do and we learn more from the ones that got away than from the good ones.

[D4rknezz]

I would crop the bottom duck out and the right side close to the tail so that the the focus is the flying duck.

I dont have any opinion on the selective colouring...though, maybe a distinct colour would make a better topic. I am also open to simulated depth of field.
Though, I am new to this photography thing myself

[SpecialK]

As Damn Brit mentioned, the busy background is still there, so now you have the oddly un-colored busy image.

To me it is "close, but no cigar". I like the ducks and drops and all, and I'd keep it in my collection, but no big print on the wall.

Now, if you can totally photoshop the background into something else, it might...fly.

[VikingDave]

Thanks for the feedback. I actually never considered a simulated depth of field. I really like that idea. A little phony bokeh never hurt anyone, and it may allow me to keep the picture all color without the background washing things out too much.

Much appreciated. I'll give this a shot and post the results.

[MoparFreak69]

Agreed with the others here. Removing the colors of the background only slightly muted the distraction. Try leaving the color in, slightly desaturated. Then do a blur, or simulated DOF in photoshop/etc and bring the focus on the birds where it should be. I think other than the background it is a pretty good shot. Focus looks dead on.

One last side note, 1600 ISO w1/4000 shutter speed? Are you using Green mode? I would have tried something like 400/800 ISO, aperture a bit larger than 8 to remove some DOF (not much tho, maybe a 5.6?) and shutter speed around 1/2000 to capture the bird in flight.
Play around with manual. Its fun to make black pictures, then white pictures until you figure out what the heck you are doing and start learing to meter before bringing the camera to your eye.

[AOShep]

The beauty of digital is you can experiment and see what works and what doesn't. And when nothing helps you see what you felt when you shot it, all you can do is go back and try again.

[BethC]

I'd love to see the image before you edited it. The fake bokeh sounds like a good idea too.

[TOUGEFC]

You have to be very cafeful with selective colouring it can make or break the photo.

[Tuner571]

I'm one of the few that don't mind selective coloring as I see it as a creative way to make more dramatic images. It's obvious that you wanted the flying duck as the main subject and by using selective coloring you achieved that. However, I would agree that the background is still very busy but unfortunately that is how things work out sometimes. Other then that I really like the photo and look forward in seeing more of your work.

Cory

[seacapt]

I'm sorry but when I see selective colour, I can't click out of the page fast enough and I suspect that's why you haven't had a response. If you work for Hallmark, I suppose it would be ok for your office wall. Apart from that, no comment.

Hey Gary Check your PM's I'm sending you a picture of a duck.
Edit :nevermind I couldn't attatch it.

Viking Dave , Why not try full color and a tighter crop?

[VikingDave]

I want to thank everyone for their constructive feedback. I've truly learned a lot from you comments. Unfortunately with work being very busy, I haven't had a chance to try more post-processing, such as blurring the background. I will do that soon and post the results. In the meantime, I wanted to post the original picture in hopes that it will give everyone a better idea of my starting point. Thanks again for the feedback - even the tough love is valuable to me. This photography stuff is quickly becoming a passion that I wasn't expecting when I bought my K-x.

The ducks may not appear as close as you would like but I think this is the best of the versions you have posted, the busy background is less obtrusive. Cropping makes the ducks bigger but it also magnifies the background.
Adding a little contrast and cropping out just the brush at the top of the frame would improve it further.