First Bird Pic with a 500mm F$

[Susan Griffith]

Well, here is my one of my first images with the canon 500mm F4.

Canon 5D, F16, 1/80th exposure, ISO 400, Gitzo tripod, and Acra ball head.

Personally i think the budding leaves behind the head are a bit distracting and take full resposibility for not being able to get the robin to take direction. Maybe next time :p

This image is a pretty hefty crop from the original, something that I have always been reluctant to do but I think it helped the composistion.

And there is lots to be done to get big lense technique down.

All comments are welcome,

-Susan

[Desmond Chan]

Hmmm...it looks pretty soft for a 500mm prime. Just have to clean up the background re those leaves and branches. Some noise reduction should help, too. Personally I'm fine with the composition, but I'll defer it to other veterans to re head angle, etc. since I'm new to that kind of things myself ;)

[Lance Peters]

Congrats on the new lens - Im sure you will have fun with it.

Does look soft- hope you dont mind - I D/L and applied some sharpening to it. (You should selectively sharpen the bird only - so as not to increase BG Noise - I only applied sharpening to the whole picture.)

I used artie's suggested USM settings (Which you would start with from the original file - not sure if you had used any USM on the post, so the sharpening can easily be GREATLY improved)

300/.3/1
200/.2/0



Lance

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Great capture Susan. Only nit from me is all the branches detract from the beauty of this bird.
Congrats on the new lens.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Susan glad you are enjoying your new lens !!! It is sensory overload material !!!!

Firs of all would like to see you using it wide open. By stopping down here you are loosing a ton of shutter speed and making he bg more prominent. One of the beauties in using the super telephoto lenses is the pleasing bg you get with the limited dof

Composition wise you want to photograph the bird more eye level, steep angle seldom work well. Also moving around can make difference in the bg so sticks won't be growing out of his head. Little guys are the most difficult and frustrating to do !!! btw do not neglect your lens for some landscapes, it compresses perspective and gives neat results !!!

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Susan,
I'm glad you are enjoying your new lens...:) I like the image but agree with Mr. Al on the techs. mentioned. My nit is the cluttered background. I would prefer to catch these little guys in a more open area...:cool: