African Grey feather mosaic

[shane shacaluga]

Spent some time with a few of my friends parrots so decided to do some abstract photos

Here is a closeup of the neck feathers of his African Grey female

D800e
70-300 with extension tubes
f9
1/125
ISO 640

Aperture priority and handheld. No flash

25% cropped off the original for composition. Boosted the blacks a bit for added effect

This is new to me so all comments are highly appreciated

[Nancy Bell]

Shane, I really like this idea of a close-up of the feathers! It is abstract and real at the same time. I also like the diagonal composition you chose with the more tightly packed feathers in the upper right and becoming more loose to the lower left. For me, I would like to see more feathers in super sharp crisp focus.

[Dvir Barkay]

Good idea, wish there was more depth of field and sharpness.

[BenBotha]

An interesting subject. I agree with the comments, more depth of field required.

Ben

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks for the comments guys.

The parrot is a cooperative subject so will try again with a smaller aperture

[Diane Miller]

I think just a little more DOF would make a very nice idea even better. I'd love to see you do more with this idea. I have a lot of images of birds where the focus didn't quite hit the eye, and there are some interesting patterns in the feathers that are in focus. It would usually be a pretty big crop, but I could have fun trying to find one worthy of posting.

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks, i have a few more from the same parrot and one from a Scarlet Macaw that I will post soon.

Thanks all for the comments.

[Norm Dulak]

As an owner of a Congo African Grey parrot, this is a subject close to my heart. But in agreement with others above, I think that better DOF and sharpness is needed.