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Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

Zebra Finch

Photographed by

Gary King on Fri 15th Jun, 2018 and uploaded on Tue 15th Jan, 2019 .

Resolution

1400x1050

Viewed

972

33569

Comment

This photo received a good number of votes in "Birds in Arid Habitats" but not top 5 and was not picked up by the Mystery Reviewer. I like the light on the Zebras as they prepare to partake breakfast. Maybe a greater depth of field and sharper shutter speed would have given more detail on the birds. What should I have done to improve the image?

Equipment

Canon 7D Mk II with 100-400 mm lens Mk II; f 5.6, 1/250 sec., ISO 250

Location

Alice Springs, Northern Territory

This image is not available for download.

Glenn Pure	2019-01-15 16:58:19	Hi Gary, I'll kick this off with a quick comment. I like the setting quite a lot and the directional light with shade in the background. It makes the birds stand out well. Also great to get a male and female together. The main issue for me is that it isn't that sharp, even on the foreground bird which is the one where it looks like the main focus was. I think the problem, as you elude, was the camera settings. A faster shutter speed, more stopped down aperture (even going as far as f11 to try and get the rear bird in focus) and a higher ISO to compensate. As the shot was taken at ISO 250, there is plenty more room to increase this without running into significant problems (provided you control noise especially in the background and less sharp areas where it will be more apparent). Perhaps you also cropped quite a bit? You didn't mention that. Sharpness can suffer on hard crops. The composition works for me.
Gary King	2019-01-16 08:29:01	Thanks Glenn, At least my thinking is generally along the right lines. Cropping is a real issue with small birds as it is tempting to ensure they are the focus of the photograph and not a small spot somewhere in the photograph.
Simon Pelling	2019-01-20 22:42:21	It's not bitingly sharp but it's not far off. You can still clearly see hairs on the grass leaves which is pretty good. I suspect the main issues here are cropping too heavily (making any sharpness issues more obvious), perhaps the plane of focus, and maybe a bit of movement in the birds. It seems that the focus is a fraction sharper on the grass. It's difficult to tell how far in front and behind the grass the birds are, due to the flattened depth of field. At f/5.6, with the focus on the grass, the birds might be in the zone where the focus is just beginning to blur. Movement by the birds (small birds like this are almostly constantly moving) might also be a problem at 1/250 s (in contrast the grass is still). Overall a pleasing image, though.
Gary King	2019-01-21 10:51:28	Thanks Simon, It is clear from both Glenn's and your comments that cropping is something I need to give more attention and to the extent possible be more conservative. I am aware that the camera settings could have been better but sometimes you run with whatever setting is on the camera to get the photo, particularly when chasing fast-moving birds. I tend to modify the settings as I move around to suit the environment.

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	94/283 in Critique Gallery
	183/936 by Gary King
	34/97 of Zebra Finch
	393/910 of Weaver Finches
	14701/34508 Overall
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