Kittiwake

[Reynir Skarsgard]

This bird was a very good model, when I approached she actually started preening and then posed for the camera like a pro.
Taken with the sun almost directly behind me, cropped from the right side. Adjusted the highlights, lightened the eye just a bit, minor sharpening, all done in Lightroom.

Canon EOS 7D
Canon EF400mm f/5.6L USM
1/800 sec
f/16
ISO 800


Kittiwake by ReynirSk, on Flickr

[David Stephens]

Great DOF and sharpness, without blowing out whites anywhere that would bother me. If you did selective sharpening, then the bill seems slightly OOF to me. At f/16 and 1/800th, I'd be surprised if were either focus or movement, so I don't quite understand what's going on with the bill. Even the feet and all but the tail feathers are sharp.

Great pose of a nice, plump, healthy looking bird.

[Reynir Skarsgard]

Thanks David

The bill is a bit OOF, not sure why, I was resting the lens on a railing and the bird wasn't moving much. I tried to sharpen it more but it didn't seem to work too well.

[Linwood Ferguson]

That's a great pose, beautifully blurred background with good color. I'd bet the beak is actually movement? But might be DOF. The few water drops are a nice aspect when one looks closer.

My only thing is the eye. It looks a bit clouded over, though I do not know the bird, so maybe that is normal? Or did something of lightening it give it a cloudy look?

[John Chardine]

Nice Reynir. I assume this is a bird back to breed this year. Love the pose and head angle. Colour and light are good too. I agree with Linwood that the eye looks a little "cloudy" but I think this is just a result of a little too much lightening. Try darkening the area away from the highlight. Kittiwake's eyes are naturally very dark and it is easy to pick up when they just don't look quite right. A lovely image of a lovely bird though.

For me the crop is too tight and gives the appearance that the bird is in a box. You want to give enough room for the bird to "breathe". I would add some room to all sides but particularly the top and left.

Regarding image sizes the BPN limits are 1024 wide and 800 high, so in this case this image as cropped should be 800 x 800, not 1024 x 1024.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Reynir, I agree with comments above, especially on the crop. The bird looks like a giant in the frame. The OOF bill is no surprise. I'm guessing that you were close to MFD on this lens, maybe 12 feet or so? At 12 feet, your DOF at f/16 is less than two inches. The kittiwake is a pretty big bird, and it looks to me that your lens caught the focus somewhere in the breast area. The legs and feet are sharp but the head area seems soft to me. Since the bill is even closer to the camera, it is out of focus. Have you done any micro-adjustment to your lens?

[Reynir Skarsgard]

Yeah, the crop is kinda tight, I actually cropped from the right side to remove a very distracting yellow reflection from a ladder, didn't take anything off the top. I'll see if I can work some photoshop magic to extend the background. Either that or schedule a re-shoot with the model
I was also pretty close, probably very near MFD. That was why I went to f/16, to try to increase the DOF. I haven't done any micro-adjustment to the lens yet, something to look into.
If I keep getting this close to birds though, I may have to look into a shorter lens. 70-200mm perhaps.

[Kerry Perkins]

Reynir, the 70-200 is a great lens and very versatile. I have the original f/2.8 version and I have it on good authority that the new version is the bomb. With this lens you can work up close and it works well with the extenders also.