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FollowI was taking pictures of the lake at the Rhododendron Garden in Portland, OR when I saw this raft of ducks coming my way. I quickly got down on the ground and ...
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I was taking pictures of the lake at the Rhododendron Garden in Portland, OR when I saw this raft of ducks coming my way. I quickly got down on the ground and snapped as many shots as I could. This was a fun moment you couldn't predict and I am glad I saw them before they disappeared in the flowering bush to the left.
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Contest Finalist in Wildlife Babies Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Wildlife Portraits Photo Contest
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo in the Rhododendron Garden in Portland, Oregon.Time
The time of day was just about 9 a.m.Lighting
I think I got lucky and because the ground helped reflect the sun it gave me soft light on the majority of this little family.Equipment
I use a Nikon D7000 handheld. For the lens it was a Nikkor 35mm with F/1.8 with a Hoya HD Circular Polarizer. It's funny I rarely use this lens and the one time I did I ended up with some great bokeh and depth of field. No flash needed.Inspiration
Well timing mandated this photo. I was off to the side taking pictures of flowers when everyone starts "oohing" and "ahhing". I turned around to see a family of ducks headed straight toward me! There were other photographers to the side of them who had clearly seen them a long way coming but they weren't able to get as close because they walked away from them and came within 2 feet of my camera. I laid down on the ground and just started clicking away until they disappeared off to the left side through the flowering bush. I was really happy to see that they put themselves in an excellent scene and that the timing of the photo just happened.Editing
I did a minimal amount on this one because it basically came out of the camera like this. I used Lightroom CC and added sharpening, some blacks, light saturation and vibrance, and a boost in magenta, green, and yellow.In my camera bag
I have turned into a mule because I always regret not having brought something along. For filters I use a Hoya HD Circular Polarizer, Hoya Pro 1 UV, and my favorite, the Hoya ND400 with a 9x stop of light. I carry my Nikon D7000 with my 35mm Nikkor F/1.8, a Nikkor 70-300mm F/4-5.6, my nikkor 18-108mm F/3.5-5.6, Yongnuo 560 IV and receiver, and lastly my cable release and my 3-Legged Thing Albert Equinox tripod.Feedback
With wildlife I go with the rule that the height at which you take a picture of a given animal is determined by their size. The best pictures of my cats come out when I am on the ground at their level which is exactly what I did here. If I were to shoot pictures of a tall animal like a giraffe I would take a shot from a distance standing. I recommend a wide (low in number) aperture to really isolate your subject from its surroundings. Wildlife will photograph really well on a cloudy day which gives your subject even and soft lighting. Although, if you have a flash I highly recommend utilizing a softbox and flash with cooperating animals, it really gives a professional appearance and further isolates the subject from their surroundings!