Small Bird/Short Lens

[Ed Vatza]

This image was made back in November while walking through a city park with my Canon 30D and 70-200 f/2.8L IS lens handheld.

1/800 sec at f/2.8; ISO 400; EC=0; FL 155mm; No flash

Because of the short focal length, I had to crop significantly from 3504x2336 to 1560x1248. I should have stopped down a bit to give me greater depth of field. But I like the diffuse background colors which belie the ugly November day.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Nice find of this white-throated sparrow and good eye contact. Too bad you didn't stop down more. The BG adds interest and I would crop a bit off the top.

[Ed Vatza]

Thanks Axel. I just realized that I forgot to id the bird in my write-up. :o The White-throats and the Juncos are all around in the winter and we sort of take them for granted. But we miss them once they leave in the Spring.

[edward saltau]

I too would crop a bit more off the top. It also looks a bit oversharpenned around the face to me. anyone else?
I love the different patches of colour in the BG but wish it was slightly more out of focus. Great work on actually getting this shot at that focal length.

[Ed Vatza]

Thanks for the critique, Edward. I went back and forth on the last shot of USM trying to decide whether it needed it or not. In the final analysis, I went with it. It may be a bit too much. Anyone else?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

On my monitor it seems to be on the softer side. I'm not sure about the catch light since you didn't use flash.

[Ed Vatza]

Axel, I think the softness is due to the shallow DOF because of the f/2.8 aperture setting. If you look (wait, you just did! ;)), you will notice the perch is at a slight angle. I think I got the head of the bird in focus and in the same plane as the left part of the perch. As a result the part the bird is perched on and the birds legs are a little deeper in the field and appear soft. I think I'll stop now before I really dig a hole for myself that I won't be able to climb out of. :D

[Arthur Morris]

With such a short IS lens you could easily have gone to f/5.6 (at 1/200 sec). I agree that the face looks a bit soft. I would like to see this one darker and denser. When you process images on the light side they often look more unsharp than if they were processes darker...

later and love, artie

[Maxis Gamez]

I like the composition and fill light. I would like to see a tighter crop.

[Grace Scalzo]

I like the pastel colors of the background and the nice pose. Would clone out the white poo on his perch.

[Ed Vatza]

With such a short IS lens you could easily have gone to f/5.6 (at 1/200 sec). I agree that the face looks a bit soft. I would like to see this one darker and denser. When you process images on the light side they often look more unsharp than if they were processes darker...

later and love, artie

Thanks for the critique Artie. I appreciate it. I recognize that I should have/could have gone f/5.6 with ease. As far as lighter/darker, I am still trying for the happy medium. I seem to either be too dark or too light. I feel like the three bears... too hot, too cold. Just right has to be out somewhere! ;)

[Ed Vatza]

I like the composition and fill light. I would like to see a tighter crop.

Appreciate the feedback, Maxis.

Re: the crop, I always feel a bit nervous about cropping too much. As I said in the original post, I had already cropped down to 1560x1248 and I didn't really want to go any farther for risk of creating IQ problems.

[Ed Vatza]

I like the pastel colors of the background and the nice pose. Would clone out the white poo on his perch.

Thank you Grace. You honed in on the two things that I liked most about this image - the colors in the background and the pose. I have got to learn to look more closely. I did even notice the white on the perch.