What's best for this photo?

[Lydia Robledo]

I love this photo and would like to crop it and improve on it so I can frame it.
Is there hope for this one Ka Mastah? Thanks. telyds


Canon 40D 300mm F4 L 0.02 sec (1/50) Aperture:f/5.7 ISO Speed: 320

[Romy Ocon]

Will analyze it tomorrow, TeLyds. Meantime, can you post a 1200 x 800 pixel crop of the central portion of the frame?

[Lydia Robledo]

Here it is Ka Mastah. I hope I cropped right. telyd

[Romy Ocon]

Ok, here we go TeLyds.



On the capture

1. This is a lovely capture of the Blue-headed Fantail, an uncommon one taken in the open where brighter light brings out the best of the pretty endemic's colors.

2. I'd caution against using such a slow shutter speed (1/50 sec) at an active bird, or when hand holding. I'd have used a brighter Av or higher ISO (up to ISO 640) or both to minimize the possibility of shake. However, the bird is sharp when looking at the crop, and I think you were lucky to get away with the slow shutter. ;D

3. Looking at the crop, there's something odd with the bokeh (quality of out of focus areas). This might be a result of using a protective filter on the lens or by the improper operation of IS.

I highly recommend against using protective filters as this would put another layer of glass in front of the lens. Filters (particularly the cheaper ones) can cause odd bokeh, mess with AF accuracy and reflect off some of the light intended for the sensor. The lens hood (the 300 f4 and 400 5.6L have excellent hood designs) is enough protection, unless you are shooting under flying mud/gravel or driving sand. I've never used a protective filter all my digital photographic life. When I bought my 100-400 IS from my friend, it came with a free UV filter but I returned the filter to my friend.

The IS of the 300 f/4 L is very effective in taming shake, but one has to give it enough time to do its stabilizing job. One second after half-press of the shutter button (the start of stabilizing operation) is usually more than enough for the IS to work well. If the IS is still ramping up its operation and a photo is already taken, blur and/or odd bokeh can result.

4. In an ideal world, I’d wish for a head turn and eye contact, and also a bit larger subject in the frame even if the capture is environmental.


On Post Processing

1. This is a pretty straight-forward cropping and processing job for an environmental print. Just crop the the photo to place the bird near a third point, similar to the cropping below:




2. Assuming that the first photo is a resized full frame, the above recommended crop would yield about 5++ MP (from the original 10.2 MP capture), this is way good enough for an 8” x 12” print. With optimum processing, you can even stretch the print to 12”x18”.

[Lydia Robledo]

Wow, I can make a comment, no? You are so right! I have been wondering about the bokeh. I took many good pictures with blurred bokeh. In the case of the butterfly photo in my avatar, I had removed the filter. Now I see the difference. I toyed with the frame many times. I always find it difficult to eliminate the surroundings. Sometimes it is choice of having the background with a small subject. With the sample you posted, I am very happy.

I will remember the settings. BTW, if I remember right, I think I was using a monopod when I took this but since the bird was way up above, adjusting the monopod height was a toll on the time, I may have lifted the monopod... he, he. A ball head could have improved my shot... oh well... with filter, sigh.

Thank you so very much for the critique. I thought my shots are not worth passing through this thread. I was mistaken. Salamat, salamat po! telyds