More Hand Holding

[Arthur Morris]

This one year old Yellow-crowned Night Heron image was created with the hand held Canon 500m f/4L IS II lens, the 1.4X III TC, and the EOS-1D X. It is really, really sharp. Go ahead, ask me how sharp it is! The four stop IS is amazing; I have a lot more trouble keeping the lens still when working a static subject than when panning for flight or action.

ISO 2000. Evaluative metering +1 2/3 stops: 1/500 sec. at f/6.3 in Manual mode. Very tiny crop. Pretty much straight out of camera....

Don't be shy; all honest comments welcome.

ps: for lots more images and tips on my hand holding morning at DeSoto see my last blog post, Hand Holding the Canon 500mm f/4L IS II (http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2012/09/21/hand-holding-the-canon-500mm-f4-l-is-ii/).

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

To quote, the eye is "killer", just enough detail in the background to give it some sense of depth, well exposed with nice catchlight.

Did you add the vignette to the corners as a framing device?

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Artie: To quote, the eye is "killer", just enough detail in the background to give it some sense of depth, well exposed with nice catchlight. Did you add the vignette to the corners as a framing device?
Cheers Randy

Thanks Randy. As I am new to DPP I have been struggling a bit with the peripheral illumination thing; I think that I made a breakthrough discovery this morning.... In the meantime, I have had some corners too dark (as here) and some too light. I had thought that this one looked pretty good till you got me. So the answer is, not vignette added intentionally....

[Marina Scarr]

I like your composition on the diagonal here. It really makes this gorgeous juvie stand out. I like the stray feathers on the neck.

[Karl Egressy]

Yes, the vertical composition works very well here.
The eye looks amazing, so do the sharpness and the feather details.
The neutral background makes the bird really pop. I also like this inquisitive pose.
Great image, Artie.

[dankearl]

The eye is killer, I would just up the contrast a bit to make it pop a bit.

[Satish Ranadive]

Arthur Sir,
Gorgeous image.Love the colors,lights and sharpness.

Regards,
Satish.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Terrific image Artie, superb detail and the 'Eye' really pops! Would you consider the 500 II as sharp if not sharper than the new 300 2.8 II (that is supposed to be one heck of a sharp lens) and seems like the new 500 II shines with the 1.4 X III.

[Arthur Morris]

Terrific image Artie, superb detail and the 'Eye' really pops! Would you consider the 500 II as sharp if not sharper than the new 300 2.8 II (that is supposed to be one heck of a sharp lens) and seems like the new 500 II shines with the 1.4 X III.

I just do not have a good enough eye for fine detail to make such a judgement. The image here is a crop at 100% of the posted image, hand held, with the 1.4X TC..... BTW< we look forward to your joining our membership ranks. That's me and the 500II reflected in the top center of the bird's eye....

[Karl Egressy]

Wow, it is pretty amazing; the eye has the reflection of the sky with the white clouds and the shoreline in it.

[Ben_Sadd]

A gorgeous young bird beautifully captured! The clarity here is superb.

[Arno Ellmer]

Very impressive image,Artie.The sharpness of the Mk II lens is truly astounding !

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Amazing detail in the 100% crop Artie! And the reflection is stunning! Now I know what you mean by 'sharp'! I will join in next week. Am off to Prague for a week.
cheers

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Artie, I really like the detail here, and the different colours stand out so well against each other. Yes to a nice comp too.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot. Teriffic comp, excellent details, and just love that big eye.
Very well done.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent portrait Artie! looks tack sharp and nicely exposed.

[Nico Steenberg]

Well exposed detail and comp I like how the eye pops. Well captured.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Excellent! I love the glowing eye amid the otherwise muted colour scheme of the image. The orange feathers look great with that eye too. Now if you could just get even closer you may see a reflection of yourself in the lens reflection!:S3:

[Marina Scarr]

Not sure whether you noticed your reflection in the heron's eye when you blew it up, Artie.

[Arthur Morris]

Not sure whether you noticed your reflection in the heron's eye when you blew it up, Artie.

Yes, from Pane 9: That's me and the 500II reflected in the top center of the bird's eye....

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Mind-blowing sharpness and details. Love the fine details around the eye and of course the very sharp eye.

[Arthur Morris]

DPP is Digital Photo Professional; it's on the CD that comes with each camera. We are working on a short guide to doing conversions in DPP.