Almost got it

[Bryan Hix]

I thought this was kind of a humorous shot. I was practicing more with getting correct exposure this morning. Hopefully I got it right this time. I did something with this that I have never tried and that's stacking a 1.4 and 2x tc on my 500mm. I physically couldn't get any closer to the birds (private property), so I thought I would try this and was very surprised at the quality. Comments very welcomed.

Canon 1D Mk3
500mm f/4 w a 1.4&2x TC (stacked)
ISO 400, f/8, 1/500th
Manual, evalutive -1 comp
PSE7, sharpening, cloned out some vegetation, increased exp a little more, crop
68am, sunny, about 62 degrees, sun right behind me. Shot from beanbag on car door.

[BillTyler]

I really like the humor and action in this shot. Now I want to know if he found any food. You've completely nailed the focus despite a DOF that appears to be less than an inch, and even with two stacked TCs it's quite sharp.

Bill

[Charlie VanTassel]

I like the activity. The subject is nice and sharp and he really had an eye on you. There's a bit of cloning evidence above the tail and back that I'd work on a bit more, including removing the dark spot above the tail. Nice one!

[Daniel Cadieux]

I agree with Bill...good job with the stacked converters. Nice feeding behaviour too, you got it at the peak of the action. I would eliminate the object growing out of its neck, and fix the repeating patterns caused by your cloning job (most noticeable in LRC). Maybe an illusion, but the image may benefit by a slight CCW rotation.

[Bryan Hix]

Thanks for the pointers so far. Cloning is one of the more frustrating things for me. Especially when there is a BG color transition. Totally agree that it needs work.

[Arthur Morris]

Sharp with the stacked TCs. Were you autofocusing??? EXP is right on. A nice crop from the bottom would tighten this up nicely. Love the absolutely perfect head turn. This one is worth some clean up work on that ugly mud.

[Bryan Hix]

Yes, Artie I was actually manually focusing to start because I didn't think that it could. Then I noticed that it was. I assume just off the center point. Does that make sense? I had the 1.4 mounted to the body and then the 2x closest to the lens.

[Arthur Morris]

Yes Bryan, In bright light that combo sometimes focuses....

[Bryan Hix]

Hmmm, so it depends on the light? Is it a certain shuter or ISO? I guess I got lucky then.

[Harshad Barve]

lovely activity here, nice subject , amazingly sharp for stacked converters
TFS

[Kiran Poonacha]

Beautiful one, loved the timing here.. congrats..

[Arthur Morris]

Hmmm, so it depends on the light? Is it a certain shuter or ISO? I guess I got lucky then.

Not exactly. Sometimes (almost always in bright light) it does, and sometimes it does not. I have not even had any luck getting the 800 to focus with just the 2X (even in bright light). Then there is always the "tape the pins" trick....