# A lesson I learned the last weekend



## cervantes (Dec 10, 2013)

Hi everyone,

last weekend I was kind of unmotivated when it comes to photography. I didn't have a clue where to go and what to shoot so I simply went to a nearby lake where one can always find lots of ducks. Yea I know - Ducks? BOOORING you might say - which was exactly the thought I had when I strolled there. But at least I got one thing right: I went to the lake at the late afternoon hours because I knew that there would be some gorgeous warm sunlight and intense color.

After looking at the results I was actually pretty impressed. Please take a look for yourself and leave a comment if you like!

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bfszjr3e09rzuqn/A2R-p_Dhsk

*I think this shooting was a nice reminder to me (and now to all of you hopefully) that even if you shoot completely ordinary things you can get some pretty cool results.* And now go out and shoot if you can.

Greetings!


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## CarlTN (Dec 10, 2013)

Not bad, you don't mention what camera and lens? Must be nice to be able to go out in the warm sun...you must be in the southern hemisphere??


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## cervantes (Dec 10, 2013)

Hi Carl,

well, when I said warm I actually meant the colors are warm - the temperatures here in Austria (NOT Australia) definitely aren't.

I used the 5D3 and 500L II.


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## CarlTN (Dec 10, 2013)

cervantes said:


> Hi Carl,
> 
> well, when I said warm I actually meant the colors are warm - the temperatures here in Austria (NOT Australia) definitely aren't.
> 
> I used the 5D3 and 500L II.



Ah, nice combo! Hmm, well I envy that you at least had sun. I'd love to visit Austria someday! It's cold, dark, and perpetually raining here in Tennessee, which is usual for this time of year. I blame Canada!


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## Rienzphotoz (Dec 13, 2013)

I really like the 10th image with the wings of the duck folded in front, as if he was praying ... very nice timing.


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## candyman (Feb 8, 2014)

Benjamin,


Did you do some post-processing? If yes, what?


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## cervantes (Feb 12, 2014)

candyman said:


> Benjamin,
> 
> 
> Did you do some post-processing? If yes, what?



Yes, I either post-process a shot or delete it.

All I did were minor corrections such as white balance, saturation, clarity, contrast, cropping (often necessary when using a fixed lens).
I was lucky since the late afternoon light was so gorgeous - no pp can create a similar atmosphere.

One exception is the duck in flight though. I wasn't really prepared for a fast moving subject so I used a shutter speed which was just a bit too slow for this situation and that resulted in a slightly blurred image. I tried to correct that via the Photoshop CC shake reduction filter.


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