On the lookout

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon EF400mm f/5.6L
1/1250mm f/5.6 ISO 160
S/H, small crop, sharpening in CS5

[Dave Leroy]

Very nice shot. Clean and simple with a nice look back pose.

I would clean up the bit of "do" on the post and brighten it up a bit as photo seems a bit dark on my monitor.

Lovely bg.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Dave. How's this? A bit of brightening and some CS5 work on that offending blob.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Ian - OP did appear a little dark - repost is better.
The back area looks a little sharper than the head/eye area to my eyes - which tends to indicate that maybe the point of focus was there and not the head/eye - some more DOF would have helped or putting the focus point on the eye seeing you were shooting at F5.6.
Like the placement of the bird in the frame - HA looks good and have a catchlight. Some might wish for a more natural perch.
Keep em coming :)

[Arthur Morris]

Good suggestions above. I would go somewhere between the two. For the over the shoulder poses, you need to focus on either the eye or the neck with lots of d-o-f.

Does this bird land on this post often?

[denise ippolito]

Ian, I agree with somewhere in between. I think when you cleaned up the poo you took some of the foot away. I like the pose and the details.

[Arthur Morris]

Good eyes Denise... Ian, you can use the Protect and Defend techniques covered in in Digital Basics. I believe that if you do a search for Protect and Defend in the old Bulletin Archives that we gave it away some time ago as a free excerpt.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks Artie and Denise. I think I better go apologize to the quail for amputating her foot! Good eye, Denise. I missed that! I better go back and give it back :)

Artie, I don't know if he returns to the post as this is a place I've never been to before (Dead Horse Ranch State Park, Clarkdale, AZ). The guys are pretty common down here in Phoenix, though, so I should be able to find another (of course that won't happen now that I'm looking for one). I'll go search out Protect and defend. Thanks for all the tips, folks!

[Mark Young]

Lovely Ian, I really like the simplistic composition of this image.