Greater Yellowlegs

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon EF400mm f/5.6L

1/2500sec f/8 ISO 500 HH

~60% crop, S/H, Sharpening in CS5

[Jim Crosswell]

Hi Ian, I like the walking/hunting pose you captured here. There is some cloning work under the bill that needs a little touch up. I would also remove the white line in front of the bill as well.

[Joel Eade]

Hi Ian,

I like the pose as well, the head angle is fine for me and the xposure looks. I'm wondering if the bird's plumage could use another round of sharpening.

I know this has been "beat to death" but when you described the crop...did you remove 60% of the original or is there 60% remaining?

Joel

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, folks. I removed ~40%. I'm not very good at estimating (or, in fact, describing) my crop.

[William Malacarne]

Ian

I like this photo but guess I miss the beak reflection, probably due to the lighting.....

Bill

[Ian Cassell]

The beak reflection is actually between the image and the viewer due to the angle of the light.

[William Malacarne]

Ian

Please don't think I am arguing with you...but the bird appears to be looking straight in line with his body. If so the beak would be on a plain between his legs and we can see both reflections of the legs so I figured I should also see the beak. It is not a problem I am just trying to visualize it....:)

Bill

[Julie Kenward]

Ian, this is a very nice image. I like the pose of the bird and the HA. I do think there are some minor things in the water that could be cleaned up with some cloning. I also think more sharpening on the plumage would be helpful - his neck area and wing feathers feel a bit OOF.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Jules.

Bill, I guess I'm not understanding the optics, then. There is no reflection, so I assume the sun angle was such to throw it off the image (after all, the legs connect directly to the water, so their reflection would be different). The tip of the bill is considerably above the water surface.

[Lance Peters]

HI Ian - agree with the above - in need of some additional sharpening and some NR on the background.
Like the shooting angle and the pose.
Techs look solid so dont think the softness is due to operator error - just need some more sharpening in PP.

[John Chardine]

Ian- I've mentioned this before but I think you should be able to coax more IQ out of the hardware you have, which is excellent. With the techs you show, this image should be razor sharp, unless it's a huge crop, which it isn't. Have you tried calibrating your auto focus. The 7D allows micro-adjustment of this. Although often not off at all, or at least by much, it may be worth checking.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Ian,

Greetings. While I like the pose and overall comp, I think this is oof and sharpening won't really help. Judging from the ripples in the water, I'd put the focus point on the far side of the feet by a couple of inches. What I see, anyway.

Cheers,

-Michael-