Tormented

[Mike Tracy]

Adult Caracara being attacked by a territorial Mocking bird. South of St. Cloud, Fl.

20D, EF 500 with 1.4x, 1/1250, F7.1, ISO 400, Close to full frame, noon day sun.

[Lana Hays]

Mike
The raised foot.....expression on the Carcara.......Mocking bird going at the tail........outstanding capture. The image seems a tad soft.....perhaps a little more DOF was needed. With good light, I always try to use a little more DOF when using a TC on the 500mmL. You might try another round of USM to see if that helps. The whole image is priceless.

[Mike Tracy]

Mike
The raised foot.....expression on the Carcara.......Mocking bird going at the tail........outstanding capture. The image seems a tad soft.....perhaps a little more DOF was needed. With good light, I always try to use a little more DOF when using a TC on the 500mmL. You might try another round of USM to see if that helps. The whole image is priceless.

Thank you for your insights and observations. I resharpened it per your suggestion. I think I get gun shy when I sharpen because to be honest I am just not that good at it and I either get halos or it looks too fake.

[Lana Hays]

Mike
The sharpening helped. Now....a couple of questions. 1) Did you do a blur on the BG? The feathers of the Mockingbird and some tail feathers of the Caracara look slightly blurred. 2) Did you select just the birds for the sharpening? I'm seeing a sharpening.
This is such an entertaining image that I'd like to see it come out perfect.

[Mike Tracy]

No blur on the background.

I selected just the birds when I recently sharpened it. Maybe I should go back to square 1 with the raw file and start from scratch. Thanks for your interest and help.

[Lana Hays]

Tracy
I often find that it's best to go back to the original and start over. I think a fresh start would be good here.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Mike agree with Lana Some great suggestions

If you worry about a halo just select the BG and inverse then contract by a couple of pixels For sharpening I like to do so selectively rather than the entire image When you do a global sharpening you are also sharpening the bg noise and softer areas !!!!

For the sharpening you can do a quick mask and will get excellent results

[Anita Rakestraw]

Really a unique catch, Mike! I agree with the suggestions of Lana and Alfred, start over and make this the very best you can! It's worth it!

[Gayle Clement]

Really fun capture. Good suggestions here.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I really like the pose,nice work!