riffmax
FollowClose up of baby Muscovy duck
Close up of baby Muscovy duck
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Behind The Lens
Location
Taken at my home in south Florida. This is a baby muscovy duck.Time
Mid morning in May.Lighting
My back patio had dappled shade and the morning sun was falling perfectly on the face of this one of about a dozen in the brood. So, completely natural lighting at the right moment.Equipment
Nikon D200 with a 55-200mm Nikon zoom lens.Inspiration
I took several photos of this brood over several weeks. We'd committed the cardinal sin of feeding them, so they had become a regular fixture on our back patio and had become so tame we could handle them. However, they weren't used to the camera up so close. This was actually shot through my bedroom sliding door. I was laying on the floor.Editing
There is rarely a photo I take that I don't tweak just a bit. For starters, I cropped this one to eliminate some unnecessary background. Brightened, boosted vibrancy and sharpened a bit. After sharpening, I also always apply just a little smoothing as well.In my camera bag
I bring as much as I can when I'm on a photo safari because I never know what I'll need. That includes 2 Nikon bodies (D200 and D7000), 3 lenses (35mm, 50mm and the zoom) - filters, flash, tripod - I bring it all. When I have a something more specific, I'll narrow it down to the tools I know I need, whether it's a family session, a horse show, or flowers in the garden.Feedback
Be still and patient. Use a zoom. Natural lighting and limited equipment will be less intimidating to undomesticated animals.