Should the fence post stay or go?

Canon 1D MkIII, 500mm, f/4.5, 1/2500, ISO 400. Hand held.

I get really hung up on these kinds of decisions. What do you think?

All comments appreciated.

Malcolm

Is this better Al?

Malcolm that is a personal decision I sort of like the fence if it was straight Maybe it was going up hill in this instance but looks clipped as presented

Owl wise would like to see the light angle a little more over your shoulder to minimize the shadow and a softer light Killer wing position and love those hanging feet !!!

A deeper depth of field may have helped. Was this shot at F4.5 or was it shot with the 500/4.5L non-IS lens?

It appears the camera misfocused or didn't predictive focus properly, but some of that might also be the shallow depth of field at F4.5 (if that is what you used). Again, not sure if you are referring to the lens itself, or aperture used.

Personally, I think the bg is so smooth to the point where I would have eliminated the fence and the post (with of course proper disclosure when posted and if you are ok with such an edit) and it would make for a stunning image, particularly because of the very positive elements in this.

Quite perceptive Ed. It was shot with an aperture of f/4.5. It was also shot with a defective 1D MkIII. I was spot on with my sensor on so many shots that day, but this was the only one that I thought I might be able to salvage. The camera has since been recalled and repaired. It focuses just fine now.

Maybe it can't be salvaged after all.

Thanks for your comment.

Malcolm

Agree with you on the last post Malcom, too bad this is a awesome bird.

How does this look? I could do a lot better with a few million more pixels...

lal, artie

Artie did exactly what I was thinking including it looks like he did some selective sharpening too to help with the sharpness issue as well as either curves or B/C.

Worse comes to worse, no harm in trying things to be able to retrieve or repair something that might not have been 100% to begin with. At most, you've lost a little time post processing.

If I had the converted TIFF I have not doubt that I could have created a perfectly exposed master file and lots of sharp JPEGs of various sizes...

later and love, artie

Looks much better Art. Thanks for giving me hope.

Just noticed how much hunting I was doing on my last post. Old habits die hard Art. Please don't SHOOT me. :-)

Best

Malcolm

Ah, hunting, shot and shooting. I have been changing hundreds of them...

later and love, artie

ps: It is all in Digital Basics and APTATS; all that you need to do is practice...

Very nice composition, love the action and colors:D