Crested Francolin

[Stu Bowie]

There were a couple of these guys putting on a show for me. I wished for more ss, as the conditions were overcast. My own critique - not as sharp as it should be. Taken in the Kruger National Park last weekend.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 370mm
1/640
F/6.3
ISO 400

Exp Comp +0.67
Hand held from the car.

[Harshad Barve]

lovely looking species , nice walking pose , good sharpness, HA & BG
lovely image Stuart
TFS

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Agree about your self critique. I do like the pose, colors and comp.

What sharpening technique did you use? I think there may be some more that could be done on the head and eye to increase the apparent sharpness.

Randy

[Lana Hays]

Stuart
I love the warm colors......and his position certainly gives me a feel of motion. He reminds me of our Bobwhite....or quail. He may not be sharp enough for you.....but the processing makes him look pretty good. Well done.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a lot guys and Lana.

Randy, my last action is sharpening before saving, ( subject selected ) I use smart sharpen, adjusting the amount to suit, with Radius 0.4. I feel that as the ss was only 1/640 for the speed he was running around, the apparent "softness" on the head is more to do with motion blur. Cheers.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

beautiful pose,details and soft light!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Stuart, you wished for more SS, but you could have cranked up the ISO (from 400 to 800 = double SS). Nice pose and good low angle - especially taken from a car. I see what you mean about sharpness though...bird's face looks good for web but softness may show more at full size?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the walking pose, eye contact and complementing BG. I usually use 0.3 radius, I'm not sure it would make a difference here. I might lower the color temperature a bit.

[denise ippolito]

Stuart, Nice walking pose and HA. I agree w/ sharpness but the details look good. Interesting bird.

[Simon Bennett]

Good walking pose and eye contact.

[Brian Barcelos]

Stuart, The sharpness doesn't bother me much. Beautiful species and I like the complimentary BG.

Brian

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all for the positive feedback. Much appreciated.

[Morkel Erasmus]

nice running shot with good DOF mate. agree with stopping down to ISO 800 - I've found that 800 gives good quality images, and with the 50D you could even have chosen something like ISO 500 or 640.
like the soft light here - overcast yet again I presume. you could select the head and eye and sharpen that some more to improve apparent sharpness.

[Dave Barnes]

I agree with the higher ISO and even opening up the appertutre to 5.6 to give you more SS.
The light helped with capturing the feather detail and the BG colour works well.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks alot Mork and Dave.

[David Fletcher]

Good comp and like the way it pops Stu. Sharpness not an issue and feel too, the soft lighting has helped details on this.

[Vida van der Walt]

Hi Stu. Lovely image. I love the pose, nice detail, colours and bg. Ditto soft light. Although the head is not pin sharp it is still sharp and not a big issue to me.

[Tony Whitehead]

Love the colours here, Stuart. Good comp. Everthing else covered already. They are very pretty birds.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Great looking bird bro. I think the sharpness is plenty enough for web display. I like it!

[Stu Bowie]

Dave, Vida, Tony, Akos, thanks for the feedback and comments. Much appreciated.