Dove Hunter

[Andre Pretorius]

This fellow was hiding behind the rocks at Craig Lockhart waterhole in Kalahari. We waited for him to dart out and try to grab a dove as they they come down late afternoon to quench their thirst. On this occasion all he managed to get were some tail feathers from an unlucky dove.

Nikon D3S 600 @f5,6

ISO 1000

SS 1/4000

[Russell Johnson]

Andre, unfortunately this image is not ticking a lot of boxes for me.

I like the crop, though not a fan of the OOF rocks. I am not sure whether the image just needs another round of sharpening, as it is difficult to see where the critical focus is, as overall it looks quite soft - perhaps worth working again from the RAW file.

You should have had enough DOF @ 5.6. Personally I would be around F8, you have the shutter speed.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andre - I think it's a fun image and again something different. Russell makes a good point about dof. I think it would have been improved with the target dove in focus too. The pano crop works well here. I might burn the white spot in the rocks below the jackal a bit.

TFS,
Rachel

[hirandesilva]

The image would have been interesting if the birds were in Focus, You have done well to have the jackal in focus and exposed well in some bright light.

Hiran

[Andre Pretorius]

Thank you for comments Russel,Rachel and Hiran.
We were in the Landy, with sore necks and stiff backs waiting for him to launch his attack. He was hiding behind the rocks on the other side of the waterhole,where we could not see him. He was out in a split second in any direction. He was very stubborn, I asked him nicely on numerous occasions to please come out to the front, he would not oblige? In retrospect I could have used f8, but I wanted a SS faster than 1/2500 of second. His target, as you can see in his gaze is not any of the innocent bystanders, but still 2m in front of him. The two doves fleeing might make the image look soft, but I decided to leave them to add more impact. I have sharpened him more with high pass filter (it looks over sharpened to me), and painted the rocks underneath him with softlight at 8%. Keep or dump?

[Douglas Bolt]

I'd keep it for sure. Although I agree with the comments about birds in focus. I like how the left hind leg gives a sense of power and speed to the image. If the jackal just had his/her mouth open....

[Morkel Erasmus]

Nice timing and anticipation here, Andre.
I don't mind the doves being OOF...but overall it's not doing that much for me. Perhaps if you could have framed a little higher to diminish the impact of the OOF rocks?
The harsh afternoon light in the Kalahari was well handled, and the pano crop works, though I'd be tempted to add some more on top?

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andre, difficult call on DOF, but like Morkel I'm OK with the birds being slightly OOF/blurred as I feel it adds rather than detracts to the content & scene. If I'm in a stalking position, I always focus on the prey, not the predator, reason being, if it's caught you are right there to nail it.

Crop wise, if you have it I might move the whole crop down a fraction, remove the white feather and mask the halo on the rocks where the Jackal is. The sharpness isn't too bad, but do feel that based on the tech and assuming the FP is on the Jackals head, more depth of detail could have been achieved. Andre based on images posted, plus the RAW I have seen, it might be worth getting Nikon to check you major lens & body for calibration, it might be slightly off?

TFS
Steve

[Andre Pretorius]

Thanks Steve, It has been bothering me for a while, the lack of crispness in some images. Have moved AF activation away from shutter button to back to operate with thumb the AF button, still the same? Has already made appointment with Nikon to calibrate next week, hope this solves problem. Please look at my post under Avian and see if you have a solution, I see many images posted there have the same problem. I do not know what I would have done without your advise Sir, thanks again!!:cheers:

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andre, I have always shot with Canon and have always used 'Back button focus' since owning one of the early MKIIIs, it's IMHO the best way to shoot, however I assume you can set it up with Nikon too, but have no idea how Nikon toys work, best to speak to either Peter D or Morkel. I always have my stuff set up with Canon and get them to customise my requirements.

I will try to take a look, but if you have flagged this up in the tread the Avian guys will be better equipped and will offer better advice. I will be away again tomorrow until next weekend, but will have internet access so keep me posted on how things go.

cheers
Steve