Mourning Dove

[Peter Farrell]

The first visitor to a new perch I set up in my backyard. I was hoping for a Bluejay.
Sony A700, 70-400G @280mm, f5.6, 1/800, iso1600, on Monopod, partly shady
Levels, curves, sharpen, darkened and blurred BG, crop, darkened perch, NR on BG (needs more???)

[arash_hazeghi]

I love the pose and perch Peter, I would get rid of the black diagonal line in the BG. Image quality has suffered a bit due to noise but overall appealing and nice. well done.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Peter - looking good - would run some NR on the background and get rid of the black line as suggested by Arash.
Exposure looks good - some noise visible throughout but not bad for 1600 on the sony.
Like the look back pose.
Doing well!!

[Alfred Forns]

Great suggestions Peter Don't evict many things from images but that black line would go !!! Excellent quality and love the overall feel !!!

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi Peter. My 2 cents. If you are using a monopod with a stationary bird there is no advantage, and substantial disadvantages, to shooting ISO 1600 with the Sony (as you know I shoot with the same camera/lens). If you don't push the exposure you will get noise at ISO 1600, and even if you expose to the right you may still have dark areas of an image which will be noisy. I would use as low an ISO (down to 200) if possible, depending on the shutter speed, I'd guess 1/125 sec should be workable here with a monopod.
Hand holding with a moving subject is a different deal; but you need to up the ISO because you have to! If you can get a good shot at a lower ISO it is always preferable. regards_Bill

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely pose and nice separation between bird and bg.
Interesting comments about ISO, shutter speed and stationary subject. Good idea and if you have the time try 1600ISO and work your way down. It could be a big difference in noise and still tack sharp.

Lots of detail in the dove and nice pose as well.

[Peter Farrell]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions.
Bill, in the past my images of stationary song birds have been criticizd for not being sharp enough for either using too low on an f-stop number or for too low of a shutter speed. I have been using higher ISO settings to boost both of these and obviously I should not be.Sometimes I need to be hit on the head with a brick before I catch on! I will have another go this afternoon using lower ISO.
As always, thanks for your help
Peter

[Dave Mills]

Hi Peter, Agree with above comments and note it's important to know your iso limit on your camera so you know how far to push it without noise. You can do a visual check on a black and white subject and shoot at different iso's moving from low to high at increments. Download into the computer and then look on the screen at the different settings. You will start seeing when noise appears and know your limitations...I might crop a bit off the right...

[Peter Farrell]

Thanks, Dave. Are you seeing noise in the Bird or just the BG.
Peter

[Dave Mills]

Hi, A small amount in the bird but mostly in the backround...

[WIlliam Maroldo]

I'm glad I can help. I might add that incorrect Fstop is rarely a cause of lack of sharpness in an image. Not saying that the entire image will be in focus, but if focused correctly on some area of the scene there will be an area in sharp focus, even if a small area or not where you had in mind. Too slow a shutter speed effects the entire image. In any case, shutter speed should be a primary concern, as well as correct focus acquisition.
I forgot to mention that the bird is as sharp as I've seen in any of your images, which is good, and a definite step forward. It also demonstrates the relationship between luminosity and noise; noise increases as luminosity decreases. The bird is relatively light colored, therefore less noise.
Also the effectiveness of a monopod is something I don't know much about, I assumed not quite as good as a tripod, but how much? regards~Bill