Golden-backed Weaver

[Nancy Bell]

Photographed in Tanzania last year. This was a small group trip that was advertized as both photography and bird watching. Seemed a good balance for me (the one with the camera & binoculars) and my husband (the one with only binoculars). It turned out I was the only one who really wanted to photograph and cared about sun angle, distance, interesting subjects...So I learned my lesson. I did get some good images to work on. However it is hard not to think about the ones that slipped away.

Removed a few blades of grass.

Canon 40D, Canon 400 f4 DO IS + 1.4, tripod, 1/400, f5.6, ISO 800.

C & C very welcome.

[Morkel Erasmus]

I like the pose here Nancy and overall the bird seems well exposed
I do feel it seems a bit soft - might just be downsizing...adding some sharpening to the subject will go a long way :)

In an ideal world I would have preferred the protruding blade of grass right behind the tail to have been non-existent :w3

[Allen Sparks]

Nancy, I really like the wing action, colors and pose. Nice catch. Head and body does seem a tad soft.

[Desmond Chan]

Great moment captured ! It does look soft on my monitor, too. Not sure if it was the focus or the shutter speed. Sorry.:S3:

[Nancy Bell]

I did more sharpening for the web. Can you see a difference? Is this better?

[Allen Sparks]

I can tell a difference. Looks better.:S3:

[arash_hazeghi]

very cute dynamic pose, details however are still soft in the re-post, it just looks noisier. the shutter speed was not fast enough for bird in dynamic pose, unfortunately no amount of sharpening can fix softness that is from motion blur or bad focus, it will just make the image grainy. Better luck next time :)

[Stu Bowie]

Good wing position Nancy, and a weaver I havent seen before. The overall exposure looks good, but as stated by others, your ss has let you down to have achieved maximum sharpness.

[Ken Canning]

Yes, the sharpened post looks better, though its creating significant artifacting. Maybe a bit oversharpened now.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Great pose and wing position...Nice colors and the conditions look overcast so you did well...Second post looks a bit better as the first does seem a bit soft.

[Nancy Bell]

Thank you everyone for your helpful comments. I'll keep trying :bg3:!