Hi John, I've come back a few times to this which I must admit is rare, but I've tried too sum up things from my perspective. I'm trying to be constructive here, albeit making certain assumptions along the way.
Overall I like the thinking and the moment you have capture, the 'wispy perch', plus the overall colour palette however...
- I find it all a bit cramped in terms of framing, I feel you need to zoom out a bit more to give the subject space to breath, by all means frame in camera which is right, but give yourself 10-15% extra all round for that final crop. Like your deer images, frame the subject then step back a few meter, this may help you.
- HH at 1/640 not sure, albeit the legs/feet look sharp at this size. ISO 3200 is a breeze for the MKIV, I would try setting your SS & aperture to what you want then set to Auto ISO. Don't be afraid of ISO John.
- F/8 I'm surprised at the sudden tail off of the DoF, if you look at the feet and the feathers to the RHS there is no 'real' detail, clarity or sharpness, I get the impression the bird is slightly angler away from you, but the wing feathers do the same, either more DoF, backing off in terms of distance.
- At 6.28am the light should be, I feel, soft and sweet like the BKG, but it appears on the subject a wee bit harsh?
- Blacks also appear a tad heavy, not blocked (choked/clipped), again not ideal but slightly lifting the shadows brings back detail. Hard to know what option based on this, the RAW is the easy way.
This has a lot of potential John, just take your time, maybe do the overnight test and just hone some of the final details like the perch, it will pay you.
Hey Steve, Thanks for the detailed critique. I thought this was tight when i first looked at it in Lightroom. Figured i would let others see what they thought. Yes the bird is angled slightly away from me. These birds sway and bob when they are on these delicate perches.
Red Winged Blackbird
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