My first BIF Canon70d +canon300f2.8v1
Hi Mergen, I moved your thread to the Eager to Learn critique forum as it looks like a photo posted for critique rather than a "General Photography" topic.
How heavy a crop is this image? Did you have the focus point on the head at the time the shot was taken?
The head is not sharp and I am trying to work out if the focus is off or the crop is too large - I suspect the former because the wingtips seem sharper than the head
No crop , focus was a bit problematic as Canon 70d has 19 points , ı think may be on al servo mode machine tracked the most active parts- wings this is my opinion
It sounds like you had the zone focus (all points active) and the camera chooses the nearest point of focus - you may get away with it if you set f8 or f11 but f2.8 is far too narrow a depth of field. So your setting could be 1/1000, f8 ISO 400 or even f11 1/800.
However focus on the eyes is critical so in the long run I would suggest setting the focus area to 9-point (in this case it would probably have missed the wing tips) and try and get f5.6 to f8 as a minimum, then once you are getting good results start to practice with single-point and then start to widen the aperture.
Thanks for critique , ı m glad to learn this tips , ı will try soon as you said ; ; the aim for f2.8 was to create bokeh ; but you are right as a big bird and in clear sky no need ; thanks again
It can be a small sweet spot to balance ISO, aperture and shutter speed. For a moving bird you need to have IS on, if you are handholding, and most people will leave it on even if on a tripod for a bird in flight. After depressing the shutter button halfway, wait a split second for IS to stabilize the image and for focus to be confirmed. Many cameras have too low a tolerance in their definition of focus.
If you have autofocus microadjustment on that body it would be a good thing to check, but like many things there are good and bad ways to do it.
It isn't unusual to get this look, with wingtips appearing sharp and the head and eyes soft. I'm not sure it is entirely depth of field. It may be processing or just the way the camera renders high contrast edges.
What is your processing and how big a crop, if any? Almost any image will suffer from cropping.
And atmospheric effects can be a huge issue -- thermal turbulence, even on a cool day, and humidity are big problems. They will not only throw off focus but will cause blurring at even the best focus.
Last edited by Diane Miller; 05-20-2015 at 10:47 PM.
Hi Mergen! Getting a first BIF is always exciting! Glad to know you are working and practicing with the camera and settings. I own a 70D and it can be a challenge to select the right combination of focal points. You likely do not need a 1/4000 SS, so closing the aperture a bit a bit (bigger number F-stop) may help, depending on bird and shooting conditions. Was this hand-held? If so, a couple of observations... make sure you are shooting through the viewfinder (not the "screen") and that the camera is very stable.... if it makes even a 1/4" "bounce" when you press the shutter, IS won't help at all. (been there, done that.) Looking forward to seeing more from you! Thanks!
www.mibirdingnetwork.com .... A place for bird and nature lovers in the Great Lakes area.
Thanks everybody , i m learning good stuff from you
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