TheKarp

The Humboldt Park Quack Attack

Two siblings with two very different personalities

Two siblings with two very different personalities
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SONY ILCE-7SM2

settings

Aperture f/11 ISO 2000 Shutter 1/125 Focal Length 2270/10

location

Bay View, Wisconsin, US

upload_date

Nov, 2021

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken in my favorite local park, Humboldt Park, in Milwaukee, WI. Humboldt Park is composed of 3 city blocks. It's located in the middle of bustling traffic, yet finds itself home to close to 200 different species of birds every year, including this family of mallards.

Time

Wildlife photography is most productive in the early morning hours, but this shot was taken are 11am. I rarely check out parks after rainstorms and wanted to give it a go, and was not disappointed. I quietly followed a group of around 10 mallard ducklings as their mother guided them towards grub. After a quick swim they found a common resting place on the bank of the lagoon. While all of the ducklings were adorable these two stood out to me immediately. The expressions you see here match the demeanors these two had the entire time I was there. We see individuality in people and house cats/dogs, but there's a ton of personality out in the wild too.

Lighting

The rain had just passed but the clouds remained, which gave everything a nice natural look. The lighting in this park gets harsh quickly, so it was nice to be out later in the morning and still be able to pull off some nice photographs.

Equipment

I shot this handheld with a Sony a7sII and Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS DO L USM Lens.

Inspiration

As stated earlier, this photo legitimately captures their individual personalities all day. The duckling on the right was loud and did not like sitting still, while the other just wanted rest. It made me think a lot about myself and my younger brother. I'm the semi-eccentric artist type and he's a soft-spoken mechanic. It's fun to find human parallels within animals and as cliche as it is it's a reminder of how connected we are to the rest of the animal kingdom. I hope it inspires people to slow down and watch the common wildlife found in their areas.

Editing

The post-processing on this image is very minimal. In Lightroom I bumped up the exposure by .50, then did a quick noise pass with Topaz DeNoise AI. Usually, I find myself tweaking things a bit more, but I didn't want to mess with it. If things look great naturally then my gut is to tweak as little as possible. Sometimes the situation gives you everything you need.

In my camera bag

I normally shoot with a Sony a7rIV paired with Sony's 200-600mm G lens. I have a few Sigma art lenses, which are wonderful, but I'm looking to convert all of my glass over to Sony and potentially upgrade to the A1. Even so, I've shot solid wildlife photos with my 10-year-old Canon T2i. Equipment isn't everything... but it sure makes photography more fun!

Feedback

Sit, wait and enjoy the scenery. Most of my best wildlife photographs happen when I have time with a subject. This shot is one of over 3,000 I shot that one day. Almost all of the other ones suck, but if you give yourself time in a location the wildlife will trust you. Like most city Mallards, this flock isn't skittish of humans, but you still have to be respectful. I inched in every couple of minutes, then found a distance that still felt respectful to the flock before firing away. Also, don't shy away from common 'overshot' subjects. A man walking in the park balked at me that day for photographing something that's 'always around', but there's a lot you can take away from photographing common subjects. You can apply lessons from hanging with them to other wildlife while taking shots, like this one, that can still strike people.

See more amazing photos, follow TheKarp

TheKarp

TheKarp

The Humboldt Park Quack Attack

Two siblings with two very different personalities

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow TheKarp

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