Anhinga portrait

WOW ! this is marvelous

Bill, a great portrait. Love the BG and the comp. The head looks a bit soft to me. you handled the exposure well with this light BG.

Bill:

Quite an elegant protrait. The feather detail in the shoulder and back is very interesting.....so interesting, in fact, that it tends to steal attention from the bird's head. I tried running some extra usm on just the head and upper neck and IMO it helped focus attention back up to the head.

Also, when I opened your shot in PS, it had more snap than the version on the web. Did you remember convert to sRGB for posting?

AJ

Bill,

A very nice closeup with the light colored fringe around the lower neck
adding an element. The head seems to have a slight motion blur perhaps due to the slow shutter speed.

The curve in this shot is very nice!!! Looks like the head was just a bit outside of the field of critical sharpness and the camera locked onto the neck which is closer than the head.

E.J. Peiker wrote:The curve in this shot is very nice!!! Looks like the head was just a bit outside of the field of critical sharpness and the camera locked onto the neck which is closer than the head.

E. J. -- What would you suggest to avoid this sort of issue? More DOF? Locking the focus on the head instead of the body? I thought the eye was dead on but I see what all are talking about. I am here to learn. Help, please. Thanks.

There are several ways to do deal with this situation:

1. Select an AF sensor that is closer to the head
2. Tweak the focus manually after AF aquisition
3. Focus on the eye, lock the focus and recompose
4. Select a smaller aperture to increase DOF

In this situation I typically will stop down some and pick a sensor closer to the eye if available or if not, focus on the eye and recompose.

In your situation you are already at f/13 so tweaking the focus a bit to get the eye sharp might have been the best solution.

E.J. Peiker wrote:There are several ways to do deal with this situation:

1. Select an AF sensor that is closer to the head
2. Tweak the focus manually after AF aquisition
3. Focus on the eye, lock the focus and recompose
4. Select a smaller aperture to increase DOF

In this situation I typically will stop down some and pick a sensor closer to the eye if available or if not, focus on the eye and recompose.

In your situation you are already at f/13 so tweaking the focus a bit to get the eye sharp might have been the best solution.

Thank you E. J. -- it is great to get good advice from one of the premiure photogaphers in the world! Best regards with much appreciation, Bill

Very nice in spite of the slightly soft focused head, great exposure and detail on the rest of the bird, It looks to me like a little bit of camera shake, in spite of the VR function 1/125 sex SS & f/13 is pushing it a bit!!!
I have the same lens and shoot a lot with the 2X attached as well!!!
Congrats!!

Hey Bill, There is another approach: work wide open, focus on the eye, and let'er rip! That approach has worked fairly well for me for two decades... Best, Artie

ajhand wrote:Also, when I opened your shot in PS, it had more snap than the version on the web. Did you remember convert to sRGB for posting?

AJ, this image has no profile. If your working space is AdobeRGB and your color settings doesn't warn when opening, it will open the file and assume it's AdobeRGB which tends to bring out the contrast of the image.
I know this because I forgot to set the color settings right on my Mac and one night I thought everyone was posting images wrong. :roll:

Bill, I don't think the lens ever locked focus right or I'll agree with Alex, although I haven't gotten to the point where I'm usually shooting that lens with a 2X. Your cropping is right on the money and I love the exposure.

Arthur Morris wrote:Hey Bill, There is another approach: work wide open, focus on the eye, and let'er rip! That approach has worked fairly well for me for two decades... Best, Artie

Thanks Artie, I have studied your work for some time and I am very aware of your approach. I just don't seem to get the same results that you do! The DOF always seems too shallow for me. One of these days I must take one of your courses to find out more about your incredible technique. Bill

Arthur Morris wrote:Hey Bill, There is another approach: work wide open, focus on the eye, and let'er rip! That approach has worked fairly well for me for two decades... Best, Artie

Have to disagree with you Artie - while that will make the eye sharp, it will leave the closest feathers soft. Remember that DOF extends 2/3 behind and 1/3 in front of the critical point of focus.

Bill, This is a very nicely composed shot and I love the tones.

I agree with E.J. here. Whenever I am in a situation like this I rarely focus on the eye if I want the remaining parts of the image to be in focus. If the eye is the most distant element in the image from you - that you want in focus - focusing on it wastes 2/3 of the available DOF at any given aperture and leaves most of the elements in the foreground soft. Here you just need more DOF or needed to focus a little closer to the eye, but not on it.

If you have a cooperative bird you can use the DOF button and as you look through the viewfinder tweak the focus manually until you have everything sharp that you want. If you are finding that there is not enough DOF then stop down. This may take some getting used to with the 2X due to the darkening of the viewfinder. Otherwise, try and focus 1/3 into the area of the image that is intended to be in focus.

I greatly appreciate the comments you have made on this photograph. NSN is a very special place for people like to me to learn and improve. The range of talent here is simply amazing and all of you have been more than generous with your time and comments. One thing I have learned here is that one better put up the best you got, or look for critical eyes to tell you how you missed.

I will post another Anhinga tomorrow that may be a tad better than this one and I look forward to your suggestions on how I could have done better.

Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.

Best regards,

Bill