cactus wren, Phoenix, AZ

[Gary Hamilton]

Canon 7D
Canon 300mm 2.8
2x teleconverter
f5.6
1/160
ISO 400
-2/3 exp. comp.

I should have increased the ISO and the aperture to get a little more depth of field so that the beak and tail would have been sharper but this guy was moving around so fast I was lucky to get this shot. C/C welcome

[Arthur Morris]

Unique pose. Too tight. Best might have been the 1.4X instead of the 2X. More room all around would have let you come up with a pleasing crop. (This one is stuffed in the frame.) I am fine with sharp focus on the eye without any more d--o-f. This one needs selective sharpening on the head; was this a bid crop???

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Gary,
Even I won't disagree with Artie that it is tight:o....rare but true as I like them tight. My bet here is that it wasn't the DOF that got you....but the slow SS. If this guy was moving around fast as you say....1/160 is really iffy and probably the softness culprit.....especailly at that magnification. The environs were great...but the SS did you in IMO.

[Jim Neiger]

I like the pose, but I think it's a bit tight too and I'm another fan of the tight shot. The large perch is hiding much of the bird, and I think that is a bit distracting.

[Doug Brown]

Love the pose, but agree that the sharpness isn't there. More shutter speed would have helped. A bit more room, as pointed out above, would also be nice.

[Glenda Simmons]

But, it's a really cool pose! :)

[Gary Hamilton]

Thanks for the c/c. Agree with all that image is too tight. Image not cropped--I didn't think I would have time to take 2x off with this skittish bird--and I was hoping it would move a little further away. It moved further away, alright, waaaaay further away right after this shot. The head on my tiff version is much sharper, of course, than this small jpeg post shows. Thanks again.