A Virginia Rail checking me out. Rails are very secretive and most people hear them rather them see them. With judiscious use of audio, some can be lured quite close. This very responsive one was photographed at just about the 100-400's minimum focussing distance of 6 feet. Full-frame image. I do wish the bill tip was sharp too, but I did not want to sacrifice more SS at this point...
Canon 100-400L @ 375mm, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/200s., f/6.3, ISO 800, 580 EX II flash @ -0.7 FEC, handheld.
I agree with your bill comment Daniel, however I think that the eye sharpness and impressive feather detail far out weigh the bill. Nice job drawing out the Rail.
This one is sharp . Love the catchlight !! You would have needed to stop down to f11 or more to get him totally . With a rare species , it could result in a miss .
I understand your problem between DOF and slower SS, specially with an elusive species at hand. I do like the details in the eye and head. The b/g is great!
Dan, I love the detail and super background you were able to get. Do you have any shots of the full bird? I look forward to them.
I wonder though if a more squared head angle would have helped in keeping the bill inside the DOF. Alternatively, a higher ISO would have allowed you
to use a smaller aperture (at the expense of noise).
Daniel, your work with the audio is always very impressive. head shot of a rail with 400mm....thats incredible. great details, excellent comp. and flashwork.
Agree with your comment about the bill But you nailed the eye instead agree with others about looking forward to seeing the whole bird if you have any. Nice job on detail and color, almost would like to see more room on the left and bottom, and maybe a lower perspective.
Awesome comp, eye contact and sharpness, Daniel. Great work with the flash too.
If anything, I'd remove the highlights at the periphery of the eye (at the top left especially)