Cape wagtail

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Cape Wagtail (Motacilla capensis). I had to get really muddy to get this shot:D. This was just before it walked into the minimum focussing distance of my lens. Cropped from horizontal (height is FF width), is it too tight?

Camera Model Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/500
Av( Aperture Value ) 10.0
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation +1/3
ISO Speed 640
Lens EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
Focal Length 700.0 mm

Vincent Grafhorst
www.khwaiphotography.com (http://www.khwaiphotography.com)

[Doug Brown]

Love the muddy feet! Like the sharpness of the head and breast. Nice job controlling the whites. I don't mind the tight crop, although I might add a tiny bit of room on the right and left. Thanks for posting!

[Tony Whitehead]

Lovely sharpness and isolation against the BG, Vincent. I quite like tight crops but maybe a little more space on the right. Well done on an active little bird

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Nice job controlling the whites.
Doug, I actually used the highlight tone priority function here to try that out and it seems to work. Also the silent shooting mode is very useful for small birds that get so close.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great angle, BG and eye contact. It is too tight in the frame for my taste.

[Mike Lentz]

Super angle and nice eye contact! Congrats!

[Steve Canuel]

Hi Vincent,
Like the muddy feet on this. Good sharpness/detail and color. A little tight for my personal taste but it still works.
Steve

[Arthur Morris]

You did well with a difficult pose. I would vote for a bit more room on the right. Nice muck! I keep Highlight Tone Priority on all the time except when I need an ISO lower than 200 (as when creating intentional blurs).

[Chris van Rooyen]

Excellent angle and intelligent use of deep DOF, background is also velvet. Sharpness extraordinary. This is a great shot, I know how quickly these guys walk, well done.