White-eyed Vireo

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. I would liked to have used a faster SS and F/8 but I had to go with what was possible before the bird took flight. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/500 F/5.6 Matrix Metering +1 EV ISO 5600 AWB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Joseph Przybyla]

With the Moderators permission I would like to post this also, I think the HA is better in this image.

[Arthur Morris]

Before I comment on either, I have a two questions: was AF active at the moment of each exposure (AF- with Nikon) or were you using the Nikon equivalent of Canon's One-shot, AF-s?

Was AF set the same for the two images?

a

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Artie, the autofocus was active. It was Nikon's Continuous Autofocus ( Cannon A1 Servo, I think). Below are screen captures of the autofocus points.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks and go figure. The AF system clearly failed in the bottom screen capture which was the original post (Pane #1). It performed well in the upper screen capture (the follow-up image in Pane #2.)

There is a huge ton of learning from the stuff that you posted so here I go:

#1: Though I have never used a monopod I do not understand why folks would use them for bird photography as they move along with our natural movements including breathing... I know that I cannot stand still even when I try. Good that you kept AF active while on a monopod--that is a huge lesson for folks who hand hold intermediate or super-telephotos... Understand that sports photographers using monopods with big glass are always working with active tracking AF; the monopods help them by supporting the weight of the big lenses.

#2: I think in this case with 1/500 sec. that you would have been fine hand holding.

#3: Notice that with the larger crop in the lower screen cap that visible noise is increased tremendously. The more you crop the more noise you get to enjoy.

#4: As for the original post (Pane #1) the crop is too large and the bird is too big in the frame. The eye is not at all sharp. The schmutz at the top of the bill is very distracting. The head angle is poor as it it turned away from us.

#5: Even though it is still a relatively large crop, the follow-up image in Pane #2 is far better. It is sharper by a mile and the IQ is acceptable. Nice job on the BKGR clean-up. I would have gone with a bit more room above and in front of the bird thus yielding a more pleasing, less tight image design and even better IQ. In general, most bird photographers are crop happy.

#6: When folks see the active AF point on the bird's eye and note that the eye is not even close to sharp, they are quick to exclaim, "Lousy camera." I am more prone to think operator error. I have zillions of unsharp images where the active AF sensor was right on the bird's face or eye. How does that happen? Perhaps I jerked the camera at the last second. Perhaps the active sensor was on a spot with little contrast and I moved the lens at the last second. Or perhaps I moved the lens to put the active AF sensor on the subject's eye but did not give it the time it needed to acquire focus and begin tracking...

Hope that the above helps. LMK if you have any additional questions.

a

[Randy Stout]

Joe:

Great critique and instruction from Artie. I was struck by the sense of smoothing of the breast feathers in both images, even though areas of the frame are sharper both in front of and behind that area, so not a DOF field issue. Nor would I have expected motion blur restricted to that area only. Any post processing done in that area? Or perhaps, just less sharpening done there than other areas?

Cheers

Randy

[Joseph Przybyla]

Artie and Randy, thank you for commenting and asking questions leading to improvements in post processing and field work with the camera.

Artie, I use the monopod because I have a auto-immune disease, Myasthenia Gravis, that with repeated activity (such as trying to hold the camera steady without support) can cause muscle weakness. It is difficult for me to hold the focus point steady without it. Also I am not as strong as I once was, I have you by three years. I think the mistake in Pane 1 was clicking the shutter before the autofocus had acquired focus and began tracking.

Randy, as I recall the post processing I think there was an area of the breast that was slightly hot that I did work on. I will revisit the original and work on correcting that area.

Thanks again to both of you, very much appreciated.