wham121736 Loc: Long Island, New York

Please critique #6.

10MPlayer Loc: California

Since this is the Critique Section and you're only supposed to post one image for critique I'll only comment on one of your images. First I want to say I'm jealous. What a great collection of shots. Now, on to the critique.

The first image is great as far as composition and lighting. My first thought was I'd have liked to seen it without the twig blocking the bird on the right but then I noticed he's actually chewing on it which is pretty cool behavior to observe. The big problem with the shot is that there's only one small part of the image that's in focus and that's a small part of the ground between the bird's feet. Try to spot focus on the eye of one of the birds. We are drawn to the eyes and those beautiful blue colored eyes of these birds are especially striking. If you had captured a sharp image with the eye in sharp focus it would have been perfect.

Nice job. I wish we had the variety of beautiful wildlife you have in Florida here.

wham121736 Loc: Long Island, New York

I believe that the beak of the bird passing the twig to his mate is in sharp focus, being at the same distance from the camera as are the birds feet. I'll have to look at the exif data to see what I might have done better. Thanks for your comments.
There must be some appropriate bird sanctuaries in California.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

I believe you asked me to comment on #6. I'm so sorry that I've taken so long to respond.

Actually, out of the entire group, #6 is my least favorite. That said, it shows the colours of the bird nicely and has a very nice background. It's a nice pose. However, I find it less exciting than #7 with the spray of plummage. And it lacks the variance of colour in #9. Nor is it as sharp as the others (Sorry! I pixel peeped.) If I had taken that picture, I'd probably like it because I'm not very good at getting birds. But compared to other images in the series, I find it somewhat lacking in both technical and emotional attraction.

wham121736 Loc: Long Island, New York

I asked you to critique this particular image because another viewer did and I wanted to. Compare opinions.
Thanks for your comments.

Q

mcveed Loc: Kelowna, British Columbia (between trips)

#1. Not sharp, over exposed, composition is clumsy (you need either more or less, but half a bird is not good.
#2 Poor lighting, poor composition, eye is not in focus.
#3 Depth of field could be wider to get more of the bird sharp, this one is crackling sharp. This is a good shot.
#4. The eye is not sharp, the focus is on the middle of the bird.
#5. The head is not sharp, again the focus is on the middle of the body.
#6. The best of the bunch! The eye is very sharp as is the rest of the important parts of the bird. The composition is good and the exposure is spot on. You were lucky to get the beak sharp at 1/320 sec when the bird was calling. ( But luck is one of the very best photography tools!) Boosting the vibrance was a good idea and not over done. Your noise reduction has removed any noise resulting from ISO1600. All in all a very nice job.
Hint: The only part of an animal or bird that HAS TO BE IN FOCUS is the eye. A crisp sharp eye will overshadow a lot of minor faults.

wham121736 Loc: Long Island, New York

reply:I'm not sure if I was spot focusing and of course hand holding the 150-600 mm lens is difficult.Still much to learn. Thanks for your comments.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

TomV Loc: Annapolis, Maryland

Hi Wham, one thing to remember about these long lenses is the DOF is very shallow at the long end. You can focus in on the body to get the feather detail but miss out on the head if there is more than an inch or 2 of depth. Bird eyes are small (duh!) and I do not rely on getting my center focus spot in them, I use body feather patterns with better luck. Good luck finding an eye when the bird is moving!

At high focal lengths and relatively short distances you need to a small aperture to get a reasonable DOF.
I would back off on the focal length (from 600 to 200) when you are only 20 ft or so and you will get more DOF and a much better chance of getting the whole bird in focus. If you are further away you can utilize the reach of the lens.

Play around with http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html and see how the DOF changes with lens parameter settings.

wham121736 Loc: Long Island, New York

I lloaded a DOF calculator on my phone to help with this. Thanks for the advice.