Crested Tit

[William Dickson]

Canon 7D
F2.8 300mm
SS 1/2500 F2.8
ISO 800

I was walking within a wooded area near to Loch Garten, Cairngorm, Scotland, when this little beauty appeared. I just managed to capture the bird before it quickly flew off. The conditions were shady on a dull,wet day. If I had more time, I would have tried different settings, but this is the end result, which I am happy with considering the circumstances at the time. Its the first Crested Tit I have ever seen, so was really happy when he/she arrived

Waited at the location for a while, but he/she never returned

Cropped and slightly sharpened in CS6

[John Robinson]

Never seen on either William. You,ve mentioned the fact that you would have used different settings but if its not a set up then its not that simple. The head is sharp which is the main thing.
John

[John Rowell]

I imagine these are pretty quick to land and leave again. Good job to get a sharp head and nice background. I like the eye and that crest is terrific. Hope that you're able to come across him again.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Don't know why you would even consider shooting at f/2.8? To me it makes no sense. Your DOF is paper thin just about at that aperture setting. Given the other settings, you could've easily used f/8 or even f/11 and get a sharp shot hand held with the respective shutter speeds (1/320th at f/8 or 1/160th at f/11) and a touch more DOF.

As mentioned, the head is sharp, which is always important.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi William, glad you found them, hope you were also were lucky with other species too and had some fun.

With the SS you had I would agree you need and could have afforded more DoF which would have helped here. They are very fast so well done in getting what you did, especially as this is not a set-up. As presented the image is a wee bit soft, however easily resolved with some more USM. Dropping the blue in Saturation does also help, subtle but noticeable in the beak.

Off to catch my big bird soon.

All the best.
Steve

[vishaljadhav]

Looks like you were very close as the DOF is so shallow
very nicely done , i love that eye

[William Dickson]

Hi Steve.

Hope you get better weather than I did, but it was worth the trip, going back up in May, so your advice has been noted

Hope you get your big bird