Sandhill Crane

[Mirenchu Fernandez]

I photographed this Sandhill Crane at Crandon Park a few weeks ago. Nikon D90; ISO 160; F/7.1; 1/400 sec. Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions.

[Lance Peters]

Hi - Love the close up and some great details with a good HA, tip of the bill is OOF - a bit more of a head turn would have helped.
You have mixed lighting here with the back half of your subject in shadow - always best to have even lighting for the best results, BG is a bit of a abstract and a little distracting - although it kinda grows on you.

Keep them coming :)

[Randy Stout]

Mirenchu:

Lance really hit the important points. The eye is very sharp, so I suspect your focus was there,which is generally a great idea. However, sometimes on birds with long bills, that are angled towards you like this, you can try focusing just a bit further forward, perhaps at the base of the bill, to get both eye and tip in focus.

It is always a juggling act between DOF, focus point etc., but if you have the time to work the subject, try moving your focus point a bit to get both areas in focus.

You could really have cranked up the ISO a bit more, to give you more f/stop flexibility here.

What lens were you using?

Thanks for posting.

Randy

[Katie Rupp]

I like your close-up view and it feels like I could reach out and touch those feathers on the face and head---such nice texture.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Mirenchu,
I like your composition and capture...you have been given very good advise and the techs. on composition have been covered...I like this very much, my recommendation to you would be to lighten the the mid-tone just a little because the image is boarder line under exposed, also would run a low intensity pass of noise reduction in the background, I'm seeing minor traces of noise...:) Congratulations on a fine capture...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Mirenchu Fernandez]

I used a Nikon AF-S 70-300 mm VR lens.
Focal lenght of 260 mm.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Mirenchu Agree with comments and can add I would use the lens wide open for more shutter speed !! Its always nice to have more dof but sharpness is a priority Did well here but any movement would have been awful !!!

With these going at it wide open I try to focus on the eye itself If you manage a sharp eye the rest will be pleasing !!! btw didn't see the exp comp but might be a little under? I like it a lot !!! ... wait till they have chicks ... fun to photograph !!!

[Mirenchu Fernandez]

I did work a little more on it...
I'm looking forward for some PS classes!!!