Great Blue Wingspan

[Dave Blinder]

Taken in the evening at Celery Farm preserve in New Jersey. I dislike the shapes and placement of the sticks, but this was a quick and lucky action grab shot. I've already cloned out some additional sticks as well as desaturated the background. Minor sharpening and noise reduction done on the RAW, a bit more later applied in CS4. No crop.

I pondered completely removing background distractions, but elected to leave the natural elements there. Despite the F/4 aperture, the eyes looked pretty sharp at 1:1 to me.

Tripod, Av Mode
Camera Canon EOS 7D
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 500 mm
ISO Speed 2000
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV



..

[Deborah Harrison]

Nice wing stretch captured.
A difficult shot exposure-wise, I would have liked to see more separation of the wing greys from the background. Fill flash might have helped you here (if permitted).
The wings seem soft on my monitor, I would have preferred slightly more depth of field to maintain sharpness in all parts of the bird - although looking at your other settings looks like it was a fairly dark scene.
Just my 2 cents worth!

[Dave Blinder]

Thanks for the great feedback Debbie. This was shot in sublime lighting, so my preference would be only natural light to emphasize that mood. You're right F/4, at relatively close quarters did not bring the entire bird into focus. I was surprised to stop the action at all given the weak sunlight!

[Deborah Harrison]

You're welcome!
I also prefer natural light whenever possible and try to use minimal flash only when necessary (or I remember to do so).
Others might have different suggestions!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Dave,
You had a lot working against you here...from the light on to some of the BG elements. Always a fine line to walk with SS and DOF......and in this case sacrificing the SS for more DOF may have been preferable.......although that may have intoduced other BG stuff. So what to do......just a hint of fill would have given the GBH some depth an seperation......especially the head from the body and the underside of the wings. Not the easiest bird in NJ for sure......that's why all my GBH are from Florida where I am typing this response:D. Keep at the location as they are creatures of habit.......a bit of perserverance and you wil get the pose!