Folks, I'd love to hear your thoughts on another look at a closeby black-crowned night heron. Nikon D90, 70-300VR, taken at 165mm (!?) and iso400, 1/320, f8. I'll never meet a heron like this again...
Nice to have a willing individual. I would have gone up with the ISO to be able to use a smaller aperture to have to tip of the bill in focus as well. Maybe try to tone down the white area above the bill? Nice one.
Lorant, I actually do have some shots at f11 as well, but they aren't quite as spiffy. You're quite right about the heat above the bill?! I don't know what happened there, I'll have to reprocess. Some kind of wonky convert to sRGB business pumped those pixels up, maybe. I'm depressed and ashamed. I've got my better camera gear back again but I doubt I'll ever meet so forthcoming a heron. It's a melancholy business, but only to a point. There's always the next time and the next...
Hi Jack, your focus is on the right place, so this works for me. I believe stopping down further would not have achieved much more DOF, as you were pretty close already. Good detail around the eye and start of the bill, and the heron pops nicely from the darker BG.
I can confirm anyhow that the shots at f11 look almost identical. S.B. is quite right about moving back. I took WAY TOO MANY shots of this fellow, obviously, trying all sorts of combinations as the 2x nycticorax was more than forthcoming. Thanks for the input, folks!
Jack - I like shots which have a bold, graphic element to them. I like the way the bill angles down to the bottom right corner, and there isn't much in the background to distract from the overall form of the image. Not sure whether I would want more of the beak in focus or not. I think - if anything - a bit more on the top.
Thanks folks and I agree wholeheartedly RE extra room on top. You're looking at the full frame capture. My excitement did lead me astray here. Wasn't thinking as clearly as I should have been. I assume we've all "been there" once or twice? You know, "over the love of birds" as the saying goes...
Wonderful close up.
Excellent details, woderful background, and very well exposed.
The beak in focus would have been sweet, but it's still a stunning shot.
Maybe you can make a composite if you have any where the beak is in focus.
Either way......
Well done.
Excellent close-up Jack, I like the good sharp detail, great to get in so close. It difficult to get both eye and beak sharp. Focus is sharp where it matters, great work.
Hi Jack,
What a wonderful experience you had. I am very jealous!!
The eye looks great and I like the colors of the BG.
It would be an easy fix to add more canvas on top to really strengthen the image.
Gail
One more closeup of a forthcoming b.c.n. heron
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