Snowy Egret Portrait

[Troy Lim]

Camera: Nikon D700
Exposure: 1/4000 sec
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 400 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash

[Fabs Forns]

Bird is obviously concentrating on a catch, so head angle is acceptable IMO.
Your techs seem a bit extreme. You don't need 1/4000 of a second for a static bird and you sure could use the DOF. Lowering the ISO to 400 would have been a good choice and use at least f/5.6

[Troy Lim]

Bird is obviously concentrating on a catch, so head angle is acceptable IMO.
Your techs seem a bit extreme. You don't need 1/4000 of a second for a static bird and you sure could use the DOF. Lowering the ISO to 400 would have been a good choice and use at least f/5.6

Thanks, Fabs. This shot was taken back in Nov when I first got into wildlife.
Learning from this for sure.

[Miguel Runnals]

Troy nice shot. I can see why you wanted the 1/4000 of a second on the static bird as it was in prep for the action shot. Could have a little more sharpness to the beak area but you certainly are learning quickly. Keep up the great work.

[Troy Lim]

Troy nice shot. I can see why you wanted the 1/4000 of a second on the static bird as it was in prep for the action shot. Could have a little more sharpness to the beak area but you certainly are learning quickly. Keep up the great work.

Thank you Miguel. I am trying hard, going out to shoot and learn from other photographers whenever I can.

[Fabs Forns]

Troy nice shot. I can see why you wanted the 1/4000 of a second on the static bird as it was in prep for the action shot. Could have a little more sharpness to the beak area but you certainly are learning quickly. Keep up the great work.

Action shot would not be too outstanding at f/4

[Troy Lim]

Action shot would not be too outstanding at f/4

Thanks. Appreciate all your comments.
I know what to do next time in a situation like this.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Troy, I liked the contrast. All good suggestions above. In addition, I'd say including more room in the front and less on the right side would have been better. The crop at the foot bothers the eye. And since the gaze is intense, the viewer focus on that. With that little room in front, the eyes quickly follow the gaze out of the frame. Nicer frame would have been one with more room on left....the bill pointing into the corner and the right edge somewhere near the 'gra' in photography of your signature. My 2 cents.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

On second thoughts, may be the right edge can come in even further.

[Troy Lim]

Troy, I liked the contrast. All good suggestions above. In addition, I'd say including more room in the front and less on the right side would have been better. The crop at the foot bothers the eye. And since the gaze is intense, the viewer focus on that. With that little room in front, the eyes quickly follow the gaze out of the frame. Nicer frame would have been one with more room on left....the bill pointing into the corner and the right edge somewhere near the 'gra' in photography of your signature. My 2 cents.

Thank you. The bird got so close to me, and that was a full frame shot.
Good suggestions. Thank you everyone.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Troy, I wasn't suggesting you crop. Just pointing the camera a bit to your left would have done the trick. But I totally see where you are coming from. I also find it hard to shoot large birds when they get that close. Its easy to do armchair quarterbacking later....but in the field, I always miss simple adjustments.

[Troy Lim]

Troy, I wasn't suggesting you crop. Just pointing the camera a bit to your left would have done the trick. But I totally see where you are coming from. I also find it hard to shoot large birds when they get that close. Its easy to do armchair quarterbacking later....but in the field, I always miss simple adjustments.

I am learning to do more work before clicking the shutter, and do less on the computer later on.