henrycrafter Loc: Orem Utah

Depth of field

Study and practice it until you are blue in the face. This type of problem will go away

R.G. Loc: Scotland

The two relevant figures are aperture and focal length. If the picture posted is exactly as shot, you could have got away with a less tight zoom, so you could have either physically backed off a bit (may or may not have been feasible) or backed off with the zoom. Either of these would have given more DOF.

Distance to the point of focus is a main factor, and since the birds are filling the frame pretty well, it looks like they weren't that far away. If that was the case, backing off physically would have had a significant effect on the DOF.

I'm not a bird photographer, but I suspect that since the birds are fairly large, and since they're doing nothing much other than wading, and if you'd been using a tripod, you could have used a slower shutter speed than 1/500. The down side to that is that if they'd decided to take flight unexpectedly, you'd want 1/500 to capture their take-off or flight. But you would have been able to use a smaller aperture and/or a lower ISO.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

I just noticed that you said you have P.A. (medical lingo for parkinsons). We have something in common in that I have a tremor in my left hand. As a result I shoot in shutter priority to cotrol camera shake. As a result I prefer to shoot at 2 times the focal length. For this photo that would mean about 800 . just sayin

suci Loc: Texas

Of course I often failed to reset ISO when changing film, or even shot without film
:oops: :oops: Still over all I am with you on the satisfaction one gets from doing it and doing it right , quite alone.

charles brown Loc: Tennesse

Dave - you have been given excellent advice. One thing I did notice was that your camera was set to "auto" ISO. I suggest you take it off auto and set the ISO yourself. I would start with 100 and practice, practice, practice. I too have parkinsons and am finding that I often have to set my ISO to 200 and sometimes 400 to get the shot without camera shake being evident in the picture. I much prefer 100, but old age has a way of changing one's habits.

WayneW Loc: South Carolina

Remember the days, Charles Brown, of Kodak Royal Gold 25 and Fuji Reala 100? I love "First Light" photography at shorelines. When you mix super slow film with low light conditions, and the resultant long shutter speeds, wind and waves, then you really begin to understand the meaning of "hyperfocal distance".
Understanding hyperfocal distance will have a major impact on your images DieselDave! The GREAT thing about it is that we don't have to pay for film and developing today, just to find out how bad we screwed up!