White-throated Swallow - Head Shot

[Bill Nuttall]

New to the forum and been reading a little about head angles etc., .. which I have never thought about in the past

Here's a "head shot" of a White-Throated Swallow (Hirundo albigularis) - delicate little birds

D7100 + 300mm f4 @ f4 ISO 200 @ 1/2000th sec
hand held

cropped and processed in LR & CS6 -

Western Cape, South Africa - March 2015

What do you think?

[gail bisson]

I think the HA is perfect.
Good choice of crop.
I wonder how big of a crop this is? The IQ seems a little bit off ie. feather details appear coarse in some areas.
If this is a big crop then I would loosen the crop to include more of the wing feathers. This would also improve IQ.
I like the reflection in the eye. Is that you in a blind?
If you were intending to go for a tight portrait, you should be at F 8 at least to get maximum DOF and thus maximum detail throughout the bird. Your ISO was only 200 so you could have easily bumped up to ISO 800 and F 8.
Hope this helps,
Gail
Gail

[Bill Nuttall]

Thanks Gail

Feather texture - I think that I may have over processed the image - in a few ways

it is a big crop

I saw the bird perched on barbed wire at the side of the road - I stopped the car, wound down the window and took a few quick shots .. before it was "away"

here is the original RAW file, just converted to jpeg

I am quite happy at high ISO values with my D750 …….. but the D7100 I find poor at anything over ISO 400 for any largish crop, consequently I try to only use the D7100 in good light

Thanks again for your comments, really appreciated

[gail bisson]

Thanks for showing the original. I love it when we ( BPN 'ers) show the "full monty".
You know, I like the repost way better( with some cropped off the right and top). I know it is on a barbed wire but the IQ is so much better.
I realize this was a grab shot but next time, look at your BG. If you had been able to get lower, the green part of the BG would have been solidly behind the bird and would have really strengthened this image.
Gail

[Daniel Cadieux]

The IQ has really held up well for the huge crop. Having said this, I agree the full-frame version is strong in that department. As a fan of tight portraits this would have been wonderful without having to crop so much. You did get the head angle as perfect as you can. Only thing that could have been better is for the barbed wire to be old and rusted

Welcome to BPN!!

[Karl Egressy]

Nice portrait shot, head angle is great.

[Grace Scalzo]

Bill, nice work! I'm in love with the full frame version of this. Even the barbed wire is fine with me, it is where they are. In the head shot, I see too much degredation of quality.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I think irrespective of what camera one uses making huge crops like the OP does not make for good photos as a rule.
That's my opinion only most likely anyway as I try to get as close to full frame as much as possible regardless of whether I am shooting with
my 8 megapixel 1DMkIIn or a 22 megapixel 5DMkIII.
Understandably, to get anywhere near that image in the OP, you'd have to just about be able to
reach out and touch that little swallow. That's not usually possible, unless you are working with ridiculously tame birds.
In any case, as said, the crop held up well enough.
The original photo is much more appealing to me overall to be honest and I echo Daniel's comment about the rusty wire.
What Gail mentioned about the BG and how to approach it will eventually become a natural thing for most photographers.
I bet she does not even have to force herself about doing that, it's just a habit. I know it is for me, trying to always position my
BG behind the subject the best way I feel it fits.