Merlin

[Richard Stern]

Photographed late on a dull afternoon, with my D300 and Tamron 200-500, hand-held - I didn't have time to get the tripod out before it flew. I think it had the remains of some prey around the mouth. Would the image look better without them? What about the branch?

# Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/400 second = 0.0025 second
# Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 71/10 = F7.1
# Exposure Program = aperture priority (3)
# ISO Speed Ratings = 800

Brier Island, Nova Scotia, Canada last weekend.

Richard

[Stephen Cunliffe]

My guess is, given the relatively bright bg, that you had to bring up the shadows quite at bit. Combined with the high ISO that has given you some noise in the dark areas.
But this for me would still be a keeper. Merlin's are wonderful birds, look at that eye!
As for cleaning up the mouth, my belief is that the remnants of the meal should stay there.........tell it like it is!

[Desmond Chan]

But this for me would still be a keeper. Merlin's are wonderful birds, look at that eye!
As for cleaning up the mouth, my belief is that the remnants of the meal should stay there.........tell it like it is!

My thoughts as well. Perhaps a tad of level adjustment to make it pop. Overall, I like it.

[Doug Brown]

Hi Richard! I would lose the second branch here. Stephen is an excellent photographic detective in this case. It looks like you had to do a fair amount of work to bring out the detail in the bird. Usually, you need either fill flash or significant + exposure compensation to get detail in these strongly backlit subjects. Do like the pose and sharpness! Thanks for posting!

[Julie Kenward]

I agree with Doug on this one. The BG is very washed out and the bird is rather dark in contrast - this would have been a perfect time to use fill flash. You did get a nice looking pose from him and a really good head angle but the darkness of his overall look needs to be softened a bit in my opinion.

[Dave Slaughter]

I agree with the above but it sounds like you had very little time to adjust anything before the shot. Handheld, it came out quite sharp. Thanks for posting.

[Arthur Morris]

When you are driving or walking around, best to have your camera in Av mode at the wide open aperture. That will ensure you of the fastest possible shutter speed in a given situation. With more experience, you will know to dial in significant plus compensation when there is lots of sky in the image. The duller and lighter the sky, the more overexposure you will need. IAC, I like this image a lot. The extra branch: you call. With or without this works for me.