Great Egret

[Tom Rambaut]

Great Egret 2 by tphrambaut, on Flickr

Took this a couple of days back. lake Illawarra.

I pulled the exposure comp back 1 1/3 (This was not planned I was only going to go 2/3- pushed wheel to far in the rush to take the photo) as the sun was very strong and the background dark. I avoided blowing the whites - basically the whole bird.

Eos 7D, 500mm F4 lens + 1.4 extender. 700mm. 5.6 @1/8000 ISO 400. AE.

All comments welcome.

Alot of my images that are shot at a distance of say 50meters seem out of focus. The above was within 20 meters or so but still needed sharpening in photoshop. Any thoughts on the whole sharpness issue. Is it too much of an expectation at this sort of 50 meter mark with the above rig. Some of my spots for the tripod were not very firm - sand.Is it most likley human error - most likley!

Thanks Tom

[Lance Peters]

Hi Tom - ALL digital images require sharpening bar none - IMHO - Just a limitation of the medium.
I dont think you would find a single photographer on here that does not sharpen there images - BUT there is a difference between that and the image not being in focus!!

Could just be a technique issue as you mentioned - a lot of magnification on that rig so the tinniest bit of movement will make a difference - but you had plenty of SS - the other thing you could do is check that your lens is calibrated, sometimes they can front/back focus - Lots of ways to do it - check the educational resources forum.

Done well to hold the whites with the harsh light - like the action - but IMHO need to see a little of the eye just to provide the viewer with a connection to the image.
I laso find these a difficult shot to nail - hard to get that head/eye just were I am happy with it.

Keep em coming

[Julie Kenward]

Tom, I agree with Lance on his critique but I did get a good giggle out of the image when I opened it up. My first thought was, "Well, we can't give him any trouble about his head angle...because there is none!" ;)

For the harsh lighting conditions I think you did very well. It's amazing how much we have to compensate for whites when the light is harsh, isn't it? I do like how clear the reflection is and would recommend taking a little off the top so the image is closer to 1/3 brown and 2/3 blue if that's possible.

[Tom Rambaut]

Tom, I agree with Lance on his critique but I did get a good giggle out of the image when I opened it up. My first thought was, "Well, we can't give him any trouble about his head angle...because there is none!" ;)

For the harsh lighting conditions I think you did very well. It's amazing how much we have to compensate for whites when the light is harsh, isn't it? I do like how clear the reflection is and would recommend taking a little off the top so the image is closer to 1/3 brown and 2/3 blue if that's possible.

Thank you both. I at first was not overly fussed about the lack of an eye - I saw it as an action shot. You are drawn to the eyes though when looking at a photo of a bird.

Agreed that a bit could come of the top - thanks for that Julie.