unclean!

[Ian McLachlan]

Hi

I had a brief chance to get this shot, but used f5.6 for leeway in the dof ready for when he flew.
Luckily he flew parallel and the eye is in focus, but there is a lot of background mess (and I know that clean photos are the order of the day).
If I'd gone to 2.8 I may have had a better blur in the background, but then the eye would be less likely to be in focus due to shallower dof.

In Oz we have many small birds and wrens at about the same size as this Malachite and they are a great challenge in flight (for me anyway)
I would be extremely grateful for any comments


Taken on the Okavango River on Albert Froneman's Workshop, Sept 2012

1D Mk4
300mm f2.8 at f5.6
ISO 1000
1/2500

[Marina Scarr]

You sure worked hard for this capture, and it's nice to see the bird sharp and some nice details in the feathers. What's hurts this image for me is the distracting BG which I feel is pulling my eyes away from your gorgeous subject. Is there any way of photographing this bird from a different vantage point or luring him to a better one?

[Colin Gilyeat]

Ian, what a beautiful bird. I like the bright colors of the feathers and how sharp the image is. It's too bad the background was so busy and cluttered.

Colin

[Clyde Hopper]

What a beautiful and detailed photograph ! I too am in the camp of the Background fighting for the viewers attention ,to the point that it pulls the viewer away from the Main subject . what really holds my eye is the stem growing out of the birds "Belly " were it mine I would at least "Spot Heal " it .

[Ian McLachlan]

Many thanks for those comments. suppose my question for the experts is should we hope that by going all the way to say 2.8 we will still retain focus on the eye without which I reckon you have nothing, Or do we say well the bird's the primary objective and do something about the background afterwards. Clyde thanks I will Spot it out. I obviously agree with you all ,hence my question re.going all the way to wide open. So quo vadis in the future. Thanks again

[Kerry Perkins]

Ian, when the background is as close as it is in your image, there is no hope for blurring it to the point of being pleasant, regardless of the aperture. Notice the background foliage in the upper right corner of the image. If all of the bg elements had been at that distance, they would be less of an issue. The bird is certainly beautiful and you made an excellent flight capture.

[Ian McLachlan]

Kerry,

Thank you .That was the sort of advice I was looking for.. I had pressed the shutter before he left the perch because he gave the usual sign that he was off .Even though we get 8 to10 frames per second the next frame was the birds backside disappearing into the foliage. As well of course he had to stay in the same plane or almost ,hence my question about balancing up dead sharp eye focus against background mess. Thankyou again for your interest.

[Jeannean Ryman]

I think everyone has already covered the BG subject, but just wanted to comment on a nice capture of a really pretty bird!

[Faraaz Abdool]

Agree about the BG - but this is great work because these birds do NOT move slowly! Excellent focus on the eye too.