Crossing Friendly Swords...

Yet another challenging situation. There were GH fledglings all over the place at Anhinga Trail the other morning. In this particular area, there were four, probably from the same nest as they wanted to stay together. Problem is they were in a very "busy area". These two landed in this area, with very busy perch, BG and some fiolage partially blocking the morning sun (for variable light and shadows). But, their interactions were sooo cute. I layed flat on the boardwalk for best possible angle; lens resting on lowest plank for stability. As they were constantly moving up and down this branch, I closed down slightly hoping to get them both in focus but not too badly to draw in the mess all around. I also chose 300mm so that I could get both in frame (without clipping) during most interactions (changing from vertical to horizontal when ever warranted). This was a vertical and was cropped tighter to avoid "mess". Of around 50 frames, there were a handful without way too much distracting surroundings. Still too busy???
1DMKIIN 100-400 (@300mm) ISO 400 F7.1@1/640

David:

Very nice interaction. I enjoy how sibling birds relate to each other. The colors of the birds and the feet are nice. Dappled light can be hard to make work well, but I think it is OK here.

The amount of clutter does detract from the image. The biggest offenders for me are the leaves, and two of the many sticks: 1)The light, out of focus limb, which angles up from the right birds neck 2) The gray stick angling off from the left bird at the mid torso level.

I would be tempted to do some pruning of the sticks, see what it does for the image.

I would have tried a few frames with larger aperture.

It sounds like you really made the best of your opportunity.

Randy

Randy, Thanks as always for the thoughtful critique and learnings! I started out wide open and there interaction was so energetic (sometimes farther front to back and sometimes closer to the same plane) I decided to stop down a little. I do have some wide open. Of course many times the branches were also in the same plane. Even though I'm always looking for clean BGs, I do enjoy bird "and" environment as well. More challenging for sure!

David:

Its always a balancing act to juggle DOF, shutter speed, ISO, etc. etc. etc. I constantly have to remind myself to vary my set up, don't fall in love with just one.

You have to work with the deck you are dealt, but that doesn't mean you can't shuffle the deck to your advantage!

Randy

I can' tell you how many times I have fallen in love with a particular setting and kept it there for too many frames; then arrive at the computer and curse myself!! Good advice indeed!!!