Galapagos Tortoise

[Rachel Hollander]

Taken in the highlands of Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands. For these close up shots I think I have to learn to shoot a little wider rather than actually compose in the viewfinder.

Canon 50D
100-400 at 400mm
Tv 1/25
Av f5.6
ISO 400
No crop, handheld

C&C welcome and appreciated.

Thanks,

Rachel

[Lance Peters]

Hi Rachel - to my eyes this one looks a little soft -- and looks like camera movement might have been the culprit.
SS pretty slow for the focal length - can be done but takes the hands of a surgeon :)
Some additional sharpening may help. Sharpening the eye might also help.
Like the composition and enjoying seeing the marvels of the galapagos.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Lance, unfortunately I have the hands of a lawyer not a surgeon. I agree it is a little soft probably from camera shake. I increased sharpening in DPP before conversion this time and then did selectively sharpen the eye as suggested after the conversion. Hopefully it helped.

Thanks,

Rachel

[Ann Fiske]

What a face! Just love this Rachel. Thanks for sharing it.

Ann

[Dave Leroy]

Boy with those jaws you sure want to keep track of all your fingers!

I like the composition also, although I wonder whether a move to the left would have given a clearer photo of the head, ie no body behind.

Tough looking creature for sure.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Ann and Dave.

Rachel

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Rachel For these tight images you need more dof, there are several areas of interest that need to be in focus. For most just getting the eyes is fine !!

If you stop down the shutter speed will be even lower so you need some sort of support, tripod, monopod, resting elbow etc !!! .. btw if I had to chose one are to focus and let others alone would go for the eye !!!

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Al. Probably needed to go with single AF point as well. I think I was crouched down at the time of the shot so added to the camera shake.

Rachel