Please Help

Mr Hyde · 08-20-2008, 06:45 AM

Please critique this shot. I tried something new. This was taken with an off camera flash. Is the shadowing distracting? Also is the image quality bad? I think I may have cropped this in a bit too tight. Please, some feedback would be greatly appriciated.

*Nesster* · 08-20-2008, 07:27 AM

I don't find the shadow distracting. I also like the bokeh of the feathers.

To my eyes the focus is on the forehead rather than the eye, which is a little problem here - the beak in focus isn't the center of attention in this photo... with a smidge further back focus this would be dynamite.

I'd crop a bit more off the bottom, that leg bleeding off can be cut off. Or alternately, seeing the whole bird might work.

Overall this is an interesting photo, a good flash experiment

*Peter Zack* · 08-20-2008, 07:42 AM

I'd agree. The focus point is off slightly and maybe you can increase the DOF by stopping down a little. The flash helps freeze the movement and should let you use a slightly slower shutter speed. The shadow is not really an issue and you could crop a little less. I'd rather see a sharp smaller subject than a close cropped soft subject.

Mr Hyde · 08-20-2008, 08:20 AM

Nesster and Peter, thank you very much for your comments and suggestions.

lennycheng · 08-20-2008, 08:41 AM

no distracting at all, instead the shadow make it more vivid. But just feel the image quality isn't so clean, a little bit blur.. did u hold the camera firm while taking this one, what about ISO?

Lowell Goudge · 08-20-2008, 05:18 PM

I don't mind the shadow, but more the light right hand side of the photo.

It draws away a little from the subject. I like to use the flash to make the background a little less obvious. Perhaps another F stop down on the lens and slightly different lighting angle?

ALso, I am suprised at lack of deptho of field while using the flash. Hw close were you and what were your settings? I wonder if there is somethign you could have done slightly different to get better depth.

Perrhaps also a different angle?

See the photo below for a shot of a chickadee, using flash. A bit unfair because of my angle of view, directly on the side of the bird. For this, it was flash on camera. Flash off camera is a little limiting for things that move.

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/106132-post4.html

Mr Hyde · 08-20-2008, 07:58 PM

Lowell, thanks for the reply. I was using a sigma 50-500 on this shot. I believe thezoom was set at about 450 or so even though the exif data may say otherwise. I remember not cranking it up to 500. Aperature was f/10 with ss of 1/125. I should have been using a tripod but this was taken hand held. The other issue is that I couldnt get close enough to fill the frame with the bird so this is a crop. Not too severe but a pretty good crop from the original.

After looking at the photos you linked to I think I'll try with the flash mounted on the camera. This was an experiment for me and I learned something so I guess it was worth it. What I really need is to find a way to get closer to these birds without scaring them off.

Lowell Goudge · 08-21-2008, 04:26 AM

I think the real need is for patience.

With these little birds it is very difficult to get a full frame. I was lucky with the chickadee to some extent.

The shot I posted is about a 10% crop. i.e. I just tightened the framing a little.

Although I was using a manual lens, my apature would have been abot the same I guess, as I was stopped down a couple of stops, and with the TC in use, the result would have been about F11 also. with a flash, hand held is OK, because the flash should freeze the image.

I like the *istD for this because it has excellent results at 400 ISO, and you can generrally stop down and still get results. I am also playing with a better beamer to project the flash futher.

Mr Hyde · 08-21-2008, 01:42 PM

I have looked at the better beamer and considered investing in one myself. If you get one I'd be interested to see your results.