Hooded Capuchin Monkey

[Gavin Slabbert]

My sharpening technique is not that good yet and I have purchased Arties Digital Basics and it has helped some.

How about a review and critique, have at it, as Art found out I have a thick skin.

Help suggestions and opinions are most welcomed.

http://sanddollarimaging.com/images/BirdPhotography/Hooded-Capuchin-Monkey.jpg

Gavin

[Gavin Slabbert]

and if someone can please tell me how to add the thumbnail to the thread I would be most grateful. :e3

[Steve Kaluski]

You may find Gavin that it is because the image is hosted from an external source ie via Photobucket and not uploaded direct from your HD.

Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

welcome here Gavin...I see you are living in the US but are you perhaps a South African by descent? your name and surname are quite common in my country :)

nice pose by the primate here, yet as you pointed out, sharpness is not quite as desired.
sharpening technique can help, yet my initial impression is that critical focus was on the hand that's in front of the face and not on the eyes. :2

[Gavin Slabbert]

Morkel I am originally from South Africa (Port Elizabeth) and am an english speaking Slabbert (go figure) and have been in the US since 1896.

As for the photo, you are correct, my camera front focused and I was not aware of it also being a Canon 40D it did not have any micro AF options. Eventually I sent it an my lenses into Canon and after any number of attempts by them they finally got everything corrected. (But what an effort)

[peter delaney]

Welcome Gavin

agree with Morkel assessment on the focussing ,I know the digital side takes time to master but you will if you put enough work in and lots of good threads here on BPN to guide you...

But more importantly is to get a good image to start with , not sure of the circumstances getting this shot but you angle would have been better lower down..focusiing is off and composition is too... maybe crop off some from top ...

would help critiquing if you post more details etc

[Mitchell Krog]

You've been in the US since 1896 :bg3: ..... you have to be the oldest member on BPN :bg3:

Agree with above comments, for me most of all is the angle this was shot at, you need to get lower ... much lower, I know it's easier said than done but if you can't get lower then you wait and wait for the animal to get higher so you can be at eye level. If you join as a member then your images will be uploaded to BPN's server and then you'll have the thumbnail showing.

[Gavin Slabbert]

1896 ... :bg3::bg3: 1986 ya I'm old and I cannot type.

Thanks for the critiques they are much appreciated

Gavin

[Andrew Aveley]

Hey Gavin ! As mentioned above , view point is critical here..........crop.....maybe something like this and I added some slight USM sharpen to make standout some . Will add greatly to images with focus on desired area :)

[Gavin Slabbert]

Thanks Andrew, I am familiar with many acronyms but USM is one that escapes me in this context and it sure does not mean (Ultra Sonic Motor) :bg3:

Oh I would have LOVED to get to eye level with the Capuchin but was advised not to as it would have been considered a threat or challenge for these guys were being rehabilitated and you walk in an 1 or 2 acre enclosure with them basically wild, and I did not want to start a dominance thing, however the point is an excellent one and well taken. (Or bigger I do not know the dimensions)

[Steve Kaluski]

Gavin USM stands for Unsharp Mask, this is one of the sharpening techniques in PS. All digital files are never sharp and require, depening upon how good the image is, more or less sharpening through the Workflow process, you will also need to apply this when you create your web images too.

EXIF details are as follows: 40D 50-150f/2.8 lens 1/200sec f/3.2 ISO1600

Gavin you need to really look at around f/5.6 - f/9 to get more detail into your image, however it looks like the light was poor hence your high ISO, but assume you could not raise the f stop as this in turn would drop your SS

[Gavin Slabbert]

Thanks Steve, exactly correct, the light was bad, I used 1600 ISO and f2.8 to get the image and even at that I only got 1/200.
I think that you made a typo the lens was a 50-150.
The lens I used at that time did not have any IS so hand hold much below focal length really becomes an issue and I no longer have the steadiest hands in the world.

I am just going to chalk this one up to experience, and I no longer have the 40D, I now have a 7D and a 5D mkII on order. I will be keeping both cameras, the 5D for landscape and portrait work that I do and the 7D for the 8.5 fps on wildlife plus the 1.6x crop factor on the 7D makes it desirable for wildlife as far as I am concerned.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks Gavin have ammended my reply, enjoy your new purchases.

BTW there was a new Firmware update for the 5D at the early part of this month, don't forgot. :w3