Nightski

I had been tramping through the woods all morning, and it was just after nine o'clock. It was a new place that I had not explored along a river. I ran into a place where the deer had obviously been bedding down. I scared up three deer because I had no idea they were there. Two leaped away across the river, but one stayed and stared at me. So still. I knew I didn't have long to capture this moment, but I was set for shooting wildlife. I just had to focus, and I knew ... even though I had to shoot through the tall grass ... that I needed that eye sharp. So that's what I shot for. I could not move until I got some shots ... I knew if I did the deer would be gone ... and when I finally did move it was across the river in a second.

Canon 6D
Sigma 150-500 F5.0-6.3 @ 500mm
ISO 400
F7.1
1/125 second exposure

Yes I know .. 1/125 second exposure is too slow for wildlife .. but I got lucky and it stood still for a few seconds.

female deer during hunting season

(Download)

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

you might check that lens for front focus at 400-500mm
Her right eye lashes seems sharper than than her left ones.

Nightski

Do you know how to post a diagram of what you are talking about? You draw on my image and show me the area you are talking about?

How do I check the lens? Can I fix it?

ggttc Loc: TN

Tough shot and you did well....the focus ....well you have to wait for that...tune it in...watch for DOF....

Nightski

So do both of you think the deer's eyes are out of focus? I wish I could remember how far away I was .. probably fifty feet, so at F7.1 I had plenty of DOF ... right? Or did I just place it incorrectly. I auto focused on the eye.

Nightski

Okay .. at 8 feet I had about 10 inches of DOF .. Perhaps I should have focused on the nose? Or did I do the right thing focusing on the closest eye?

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

It looks like the weeds in front of the deer are more in focus than the deer.

Nightski

So it is a photographer problem .. not a lens problem? I posted another shot I got of this deer in photo analysis if you would be kind enough to take a look.

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-269012-1.html

The weeds were taller than me, so I probably should have used manual focus ... I was just so excited I didn't think about it.

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

Don't get all excited girl.
Irrespective of what the DOF calculator might say, your picture says you have about 10 inches of usable DOF.
I'm assuming you focused on her left eye because it has the highlight you spoke of but i see better acuity in her right eye which suggests your lens may have been near focused by about 1-2 inches.
Do not, i repeat, do not consider tuning your lens until you have a clear idea of the distances and zooms you will be shooting at and then only with a proper target.
As Graham suggested, the viewer and the equipment used to view make judgments of this nature difficult but as you have suggested, the animal will snap to life when it is right.

Caysnowman Loc: MN & SC

My first thought was that the light was coming from the doe's
left which caused her right eye to be in a shadow while the left eye was not. Just a thought

Bill

naturepics43 Loc: Hocking Co. Ohio - USA

For a (grab) shot, the composition is very good. As for getting the eye sharp, not so good. The grass in front seems more in focus than the eyes or the nose. Good memory shot!

Nightski

Yes, I should have used manual focus. Auto focus was too undependable with moving grass in front of me.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

The last thing i would worry about with this shot is the sharpness.
I think it is a great shot to show the nervousness and shyness of the deer.
It is a very good environmental shot and the exposure is perfect, and the composition is very good as well.
The stalk of grass across the face does not bother me. It adds to the furtiveness, to the environmental setting.
I downloaded the photo and looked at it at full screen size (14" x 8-12" ) and it is as sharp as a tack.
I then looked at it at 100%.
At 100% this gives an image that is 50 inches wide by 30 inches high.
And still the deer is acceptably sharp.
Yes, I can detect that the grasses just in front appear slightly sharper than the deer.
I think to be comparing left eye to right eye is damned silly.
Maybe the autofocus picked up the grasses in front of the face, possibly. But I would always take this shot first before I went to manual focus to perfect it.
To me, this deer looks like all the muscles in its body are coiled as tight as can be, ready to bolt.
I would not be surprised if you blinked and when you opened your eyes it was no longer there, with the only sign anything had been there, a vibrating leaf 10 yards from it.

To me, this photo is plenty sharp enough and focused well enough for the uses that it is going to see.
Even if it was printed at 50x30", people are going to be looking at it from 5 feet away, not at the 100% and 12 inches that we are pixel peeping it here.
I would stop worrying about your lens sharpness Sandra.
This image will print at 3 feet wide no trouble at all.
This is a wonderful image.

SonyA580 Loc: FL in the winter & MN in the summer

This shot also has the weeds in sharp focus. Manual focus would have been nice but not always possible for a Grab shot

naturepics43 Loc: Hocking Co. Ohio - USA

Apparently you have not been following Nightski's recent posts as she is genuinely concerned about the sharpness of her image's. When someone says things like "stop worrying about your lens sharpness", they are going from trying to be a good photographer to just taking snapshots.

As far as viewing an image at 100%, I consider this to be a valuable tool for checking sharpness, DOF, etc. and not "pixel peeping". JMO