Ok, here goes nothing, this my first post in the big boy forum. I normally go straight for the eager to learn forum. I am still VERY eager to learn however I am ready for big school now and want to get critiqued to the max!
I have my own little critique that I would like to share and see if people agree:
Light is coming in from the right and behind the bird. The reflection from the snow below helps a bit but I probably should have used some fill flash?
I would have liked to get a little more DOF. I am generally working at f/9, however I use a 1.4 TC. Does the TC reduce DOF by the fact it is making my 300mm a 420mm lens? Longer lens, less DOF? Any help on this would be great.
ooouw! I like this one. Nice pose and eye contact. The snow sure did help in reflecting some light on the face.
Yeah, the extender will help reduce the DOF. Looks like you were fairly close due to the shallow DOF.
With such a fast shutter speed I'm think you could have stopped down a little bit to increase the DOF.
I'm sure some of the more experienced and knowledgeable folk here will be able to give you some more technical feedback.
Good image overall. Well exposed for the light angle you had, and quite sharp as posted. You could use the burn tool to darken the back third of the subject. Yes some fill-flash, in this case, would have helped...but even better...since these guys are readily attractable to set-ups here in Ottawa (I'm sure many other places too:)) you could place yourself with the sun directly at your back and avoid those issues altogether from the get-go. While you're at it, you could set-up a more attractive perch...this one is OK, but a bit on the bland side. Good comp, and nice to see one perched ā-la songbird, instead of the typical head-down on a trunk pose.
P.S. The further you are from the subject the less shallow the DOF becomes on the subject. With the eye and face sharp I am OK with the current DOF chosen. Not sure how the TC affects this if you back up to have the subject the equivalent size in the frame, perhaps someone can chime in.
Thank you both for the comments.
Chris: I will be stopping down further from now on!!
Daniel: you have given me some amazing food for thought.
I appreciate both of your comments on DOF. It now makes complete sense that the closer I am the shallower the DOF.
White-breasted Nuthatch
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