f 7.1
1/60
ISO 800
i'm still chasing hairs. i can't seem to get good enough focus to see hairs on the feathers. i come close, but can't seem to get the results i'm looking for.
again, i am humbled by the work i see here. caught slaughter's pic and the funky bird as well. i don't think i will ever bring that kind of quality here.
Hi Mike. IMO, at 1/60th SS, you will have difficulty getting "hairs". Try fill flash at -2 stops and see if you can use a much higher SS. You don't mention what your max. aperture would by, If you could open up to 5.6 or 4, you would be able to go up in SS. Did you use a tripod? This would help also. Good luck, you are close.
Don't worry, you just need better light and a cooperative subject. If you can, try photographing early or late in the day and if you have the sun behind you and a bird in reasonable distance then you will see much more detail. Here the shutter speed is quite low and I agree that fill flash might have helped. It seems there was a leaf between the lens and the bird, which doesn't help, either. I would only sharpen the bird, not the background. Keep trying!
Mike, I attempted to create the illusion of sharpness by running Noise Ninja on the BG, sharpening the bird slightly (couldn't go to much due to noise) and then I lightned the eye and added a small highlight. It's an improvement, (a lot can be done in post processing) but far from what your camera and lens is capable of producing especially if you had used fill flash on this.
For now, I took the liberty to work on your image a bit...to take a better look at the feather. As already said, a higher shutter speed and better focus may help. Have you considered focusing manually? I think the scene was not really that bright anyway. Don't give up !
Errr...I might have distorted the colors of the bird...cuz I don't really know what colors they are. Sorry !
Last edited by Desmond Chan; 06-17-2008 at 09:35 PM.
Mike you got to pick your fights !!! Here at the slow shutter speed you had there wasn't much chance to do what you wanted.
One thing you could try for these difficult situations is using flash as main if you are within the range !! Will freeze the action and produce sharp results. Best still is to find a bird in good light so you can use reasonable settings.
No secrets for making high quality images, look at lots to see what makes them, then go out and try. You will be making awesome images before you know it !!! btw post the exposure comp, its important. In your image it looks like it is under exposed by about 2/3 Keep plugging !!!
good to see you aggressively trying to learn Mike.
Remember that underexposure, and this bird is underexposed, will hide detail in noise.
As noted, your subject needs light. It will come with more practice and analysis
Keep going Mike!!!! I agree with Alfred, pick your fights, this was a very tough image to try and make work, you did pretty well all things considered.
Cat Bird
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