Widgeon - Comp help

[Brenda]

My husband found this art contest he really wants me to enter. Sigh.... He's been so supportive. How can I tell him no? The problem? I don't do animals, I don't do water and I don't do trees. Guess what this has??? Ducks, a pond and the surrounding brush.

I'm trying to expand my horizons and work on compiling a couple of pics and get a good composition going here. The background is one pic from the WC reference Library taken by Drover Dog and the ducks are taken by Peter May. I emailed him and asked permission, which he graciously granted with no restrictions. How nice!

Here's my rationale for where I have placed everything. The focal point is the drake's head. The orange is the golden mean and the male widgeon's (widgeon? it's a duck!) head lines up very near the intersection. The red lines show where ::I think:: the eye is lead by the background back to the head. I darkened the water and the far grass trying to keep it from competing with the ducks. Did it work?? http://okrid.org/images/Emoticons/ST/comp-lines.jpg

I freely profess my composition weakness... shoot. Weakness??? It's utterly lacking. Go ahead. Tear it apart. I am all about learning on this one. Here's the pic with no lines.
http://okrid.org/images/Emoticons/ST/comp-nolines.jpg

[Greg]

Hey, just the fact that you knew where to put some lines is way over my head. Maybe I'll learn something from the composition advice. I'll keep lurking on this thread.

[lene]

Hi Brenda
Before I look into the "rules of composition" - which I believe you master - I'll just look at a composition and find my imidiate response.
This is a pair of nice and very colorful ducks. They are placed in very colorful and "busy" surroundings.
I like the photo, but perhaps the surroundings need to be subdued to not overwhelm the ducks (?) Maybee if the water had less reflections. I am not sure what to do, but as presented here it seems like there are a bit too many things "in action" :bye1:

[Bill C]

Hey Brenda!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kewl!! WILDLIFE!!!! Don't have time right now but I'll give you my 2 cents worth later about the comp. Need to think about it, not crazy about where the ducks are and my eye travels right to that bright green bank.


later................

[Brenda]

Greg, pull up your hip boots and wade on in. The water's good!;)

Thanks for the advice, Lene. It hits right where I was most uncomfortable... the busy, busy water.

Bill, BRING IT ON!!! ;):p:D:D BTW... I just received some of Bill's prints. They-are-GORGEOUS! I am going to frame them and put them in my husband's office. He loves them almost as much as I do. Thanks, Bill!

[Brenda]

Would this be better? :confused: The picture is about the ducks.

[Denise]

ooooo Brenda........water...w/ reflections......and....animals:eek: :eek: !!! I'm gonna be watching this one!!!


I wanna learn water, too;) :angel: The ducks look kewl!

[CarrieLLewis]

Brenda,

I like the cropped version better, but only because it puts those ducks front and center.

The one thing the bothers me most about both alternatives is that the ducks look pasted in (Yeah, I know. They were!). The lighting on the ducks looks like a flash was used, the lighting in the background appears natural. While those things would be compensated for in the drawing stage, they do detract from the overall unity right now and that could be part of what is throwing you off.

Also, unless the ducks are sitting absolutely still, there will be a wake behind them and ripples ahead of them. Even of the wake and ripples are minimum, they would emphasize the focal point, i.e., the ducks. After all, the wake is clearly behind something, so your eye would naturally follow the wake to its source.

And the ripples would curve around the ducks like the first parenthese.

If the ducks are swimming a little faster, the ripples would be more dramatic and would precede the ducks a little further. That, in turn, would break up those mirror smooth reflections and reduce some of the busy-ness of that area.

I do like the full photograph, but I think that would make a wonderful composition all of its own without the ducks.

Something else you might try is to nestle those ducks in amongst the reeds and tall grass along the far bank. As though they were hiding or nesting.

[Bill C]

it seems to me that the bg and ducks dont go together very well. As Lene pointed out the bg seems too bright and busy, it just doesn't "fit" to me. Did the photographer give you permission to use all of the duck pict, and can we see the original?

[Angela]

Brenda,

I'm no comp expert either but I have to agree about the water. I think the reflections are distracting. I think you need to find some pics of water with the ducks actually IN them to see how the water reacts around the duck's bodies. I do, however, feel like it needs some kind of a background other than just the water. I know you want the ducks to be the center of interest, however, I just think that without a background, the pic isn't as good as it could be.

A.

[Arlene]

Brenda,


The one thing the bothers me most about both alternatives is that the ducks look pasted in (Yeah, I know. They were!). The lighting on the ducks looks like a flash was used, the lighting in the background appears natural..gee where did you hear that before? ;)

[Amazingreys]

What ever happenned with this Brenda, did you do the piece? I just stumbled upon this thread (late to the party again! :p )