Shallow DOF Ovenbird.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Back from a one week family vacation at the cottage. Lots of fun had by all. Unusually not much time for bird photography (lots of heavy rain) but I did manage a couple of morning outings. This year the only cooperative bird subjects were Ovenbird and Hermit Thrush, which ironically are the two species that made me pull out my hair the most in past vacations at the cottage! Lots of other species were seen and heard, but offering me photography opportunities was the least of their concerns...but boy did the Ovenbird(s) make up for this! In this image the Ovenbird had just finished scratching itself and still had a fluffed up look to it for a few seconds afterwards.

Canon 40D + 100-400L @350mm, aperture priority, evaluative metering, 1/80s., f/6.3, ISO 640, no EC, audio and blind used, slight crop for presentation (a bit off top and right).

[Aidan Briggs]

Super sharp, nice exposure, and a good perch. The black BG is dramatic, but I'm not sure if I like it. I would prefer to have more DOF also, but it looks like you had limited light. If you have it, I would give it more room on the left

[Arthur Morris]

With the raised crest, the perfect HA, EXP, and the raised tail. This one is killer. The whole face is sharp and the setting is lovely. What is that loverly perch? Did you put it in place?

[Desmond Chan]

I like the light here. And I think the shallow DOF works well with the darker background. It's like the bird is just appearing from the dark, like walking out of a cave. :) The bird looks lovely. Good colors, too.

[Stu Bowie]

That head is pin sharp Daniel, and good job on the eye. I actually the darker BG, as it makes the head stand out even more. Im just wondering on the DOF with your aperture. I feel you should have got more of the chest in focus, but I may be wrong. Did you blur it to give more focus on the head. ( pun not intended)

[Joe Senzatimore]

Wonderful detail and light on this. A difficult bird to get and you took full advantage of the opportunity given you.

[Daniel Cadieux]

What is that loverly perch? Did you put it in place?

Thanks Artie. That is the top of an older fallen log I found on the forest floor. I actually placed it there last year in the hopes of photographing Ovenbirds on it then...to no avail - but left the log there. This year I tried at the same spot and this one cooperated very nicely.

Im just wondering on the DOF with your aperture. I feel you should have got more of the chest in focus, but I may be wrong. Did you blur it to give more focus on the head. ( pun not intended)

Hey Stuart, thanks for taking the time to comment on my image! I did not blur the chest. The shallow DOF comes in large part from the fact the subject was close to MFD. The closer the subject is to the lens, the shallower the DOF appears on it. F/6.3 is pretty close to wide open on this lens at that focal lenght so that is a factor too. This is almost full-frame @350mm from an image that was already taken in vertical orientation to start with, just to give an idea how close this 6" long bird was.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Excellent one,
One thing to point out is how difficult are Ovenbirds to see,
I can't imagine how hard it is to get a photo. You did great with this one.

[Ramon M. Casares]

I like the feeling of this one. Nice pose, light, details, perch, colors and light. Congratulations!

[James Salywoda]

Awesome Shot the shallow dof works for me as is the composition....details, colors and bg.

[ChasMcRae]

Nice -the dark background makes the head shot jump !