Crested tit (Parus cristatus)

[borisbelchev_bspb]

I would like to hear you advices and critics about this photo....

[borisbelchev_bspb]

Camera Model Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
Shooting Date/Time 5/2/2008 96:13 AM
Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/200
Av( Aperture Value ) 5.6
Metering Mode Partial Metering
ISO Speed 400
Lens EF300mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
Focal Length 420.0 mm
Image Size 3888x2592
Image Quality RAW
Flash On
Flash Type External E-TTL
Flash Exposure Compensation 0
Red-eye Reduction On
Shutter curtain sync 1st-curtain sync
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode One-Shot AF
Picture Style Portrait
Sharpness 2
Contrast 0
Saturation 0
Color tone 0
Color Space sRGB
Noise Reduction Off
File Size 8372 KB
Custom Function C.Fn:01-0
C.Fn:02-0
C.Fn:03-0
C.Fn:04-0
C.Fn:05-0
C.Fn:06-0
C.Fn:07-0
C.Fn:08-0
C.Fn:09-0
C.Fn:10-0
C.Fn:11-0
Drive Mode Continuous shooting


Some details ;-)

[Robert Amoruso]

Boris,

Attractive subject and I like the positioning in the frame but would take some of the right off - crop it tighter in from the right. The bird looks a little soft and may be helped with more sharpening but critical focus is at the top of the perch. The BG branch is distracting and it you are OK with doing this, could clone out the BG branch.

Use your camera's ability to select a AF point near the eye and focus on it. Or chose the central sensor in One Shot mode, focus onthe eye, hold down the shutter to lock focus and reframe the image to the preferred composition.

Thanks for posting.

[borisbelchev_bspb]

Thanks Rob, i think is really better, but I am trying to not crop so much... ;-) (http://photo-cult.com/pics/323/pic_9995879_0323227.jpg)

[Doug Brown]

No one likes to crop and throw pixels into the garbage. That's why bird photographers never seem to have enough focal length. But I have to agree with Robert's critique here. Your repost is a better crop. With sharper focus on the bird and perhaps a little more exposure, you'd have a really strong image. Thanks for sharing!

[capemerlin]

Nice photo borisbelchev and thanks Robert for the tips. I have the same setup and I just started to play around with fill flash(setting, etc.) and reading forums on flash use.