Everything is Permuted

Just a brief interaction between two of our regular garden visitors...

Just four photos today, each showing a fairly standard portrait of a duck. The poses differ (inevitably) but the most distinctive feature of each shot is the background colour. In each case I was fortunate to have the duck well in the foreground so that I could use a wider aperture which helps smooth the background while retaining the main detail. Picking backgrounds is an important part of getting a shot. Things to look for are colour, contrast, and wherever possible a clean, uncluttered space that doesn't intrude on the subject.

In this first shot, the background is predominantly green (grass) with a hint of yellow (narcissi). The duck did pose nicely for this shot, which is a bonus.


Next is a duck against a pale blue (sky) background. That it happens to be perched on the top of a tall hedge (6 foot plus), is also a bonus.


The next shot is the same duck in the same position. I wanted a stronger background colour and spotted a house in the distance. This provided a nice terracotta backdrop, easily blurred because of the distance the duck and the building.


The final shot is a pair of ducks. Once again a decent pose with a nice difference in height of the two ducks, and a lemon/yellow with hints of green background (strong sunlight on the bank of the pond).



Camera note: all shots taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens.

A short second post today with some of the video captured during the snow last night, and a quick shot of the snow covered fields as the thaw began to take effect.


The video includes the briefest glimpse of a badger, a pair of foxes, and reveals just what the fox in the previous post was getting up to when it ducked out of view.




Camera note: photo taken with the Canon 7D and EF 200mm f/2.8L II USM.