Background Drove the Shot

Yeah, it’s just a Mallard Duck, a species you can find basically at every pond in North America. But when you can make the common, uncommon, then you turn heads and you can tell your visual story. In this sitution, it was the background that caught my attention and what drove the photograph. The reflection of sunrise, grass reeds on the left and blue sky on the right in the water as it swirled had me mezmorized as I looked at it through the viewfinder. It was then I scambled to put a subject on that stage and the closest bird was … a Mallard. Sure, I would have loved a Wood Duck but there were none and it was going to be a cool shot, of a Mallard. To bring out the tones in the water I overexposed +1/3. A side benefit of this was it brought up the colors in the drakes head. A downside was it slowed down my shutter speed a tad. To make up for that I went from f/11 to f/8 and while I would have liked more of the flank in focus, I wanted the photo. I just love the feel of that water! In the end, I am very pleased with the image it all works cause the background drove the shot!