Harlequin - a DOF lesson?

[Bill Dix]

From Barnegat Jetty two weeks ago. Full frame (cropped slivver from right and added equal slivver of canvas to left). Body is not quite as sharp as I would have liked. I couldn't get back any further on the rocks. DOF Master suggests that even if I had gone to f/10 I would have only gained a fraction of an inch of DOF. I wonder if I might have gotten better fine feather definition with a slightly shorter lens and a bit of crop?

D90 | 500f4 | ISO 500 | 1/2500@ f/6.3 | -1.3 EV

[denise ippolito]

Bill, Very nice exposure and sharpness on the head and most of the duck. I do think that with a large lens being very close to your subject it really is tough to get enough DOF, but with that SS and assuming you were on a tripod I would have stopped down. Not sure if there would have been a huge difference though.

[Stu Bowie]

Bill, your DOF range falls in the right places here. Good HA, and I like the detail and colours. In situations like this, you did have enough ss for a static subject, so you could have experimented by stopping down. Another way was to focus halfway on the body - this gives you DOF both ways. While the duck is posing there, you could try all sorts of settings etc, and see whats comes out best.

[Arthur Morris]

Good image and good self critique. All in all, the image is well done. You waited for a good head turn with the bird angled slightly away from you.

[Bill Dix]

Thank you Denise, Stuart and Artie. The bird didn't stay in this position for long before he turned his back and slid off his rock - I only got off a few frames, and only this one had a reasonable head turn. But if I had had my wits about me, I'm sure I could have experimented with stopping down, since I had some SS to trade.