http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/images/upload/44_deerSM.jpg

http://www.shuttertalk.com/forums/images/upload/mallardSM.jpg

I like the second picture the best of the two - it's difficult to discern anything other than the plant life in in the first. Were these taken near Grand or Victoria beach, by any chance?

My preference is for the first one. I feel like I'm watching the duck from a respectful distance, just letting him be a duck, instead of bothering him.

What am I missing in the second pic? It has a bit too much distracting foreground.

I must be missing it. I can't find a duck in the first. I think I might see a bear but if no one else is seeing a bear, then I must not really be seeing a bear.

I think the idea is good, but maybe you need to be more subtle for someone like me. Which means working the comp so that it LOOKS tough, but really isn't.

When I say hiding I mean hiding. I was wandering through the woods like a ten year old boy (I regress like that once a week) when I spotted these. The first is a deer. I barely caught it before it and a female and a youngster quieltly slipped into a swampy area to the right. The duck was swimming on a flooded section of a path. I couldn't get any closer but it seemed a beautiful setting for a shot. I also saw a fox but he ran like a bat out of hell and I couldn't photograph him at all. This woods is quickly shrinking. It's located in a commercial/residential area of the Eastern outskirts of Winnipeg.