Male Mallard

[scootermcq]

This image is SOOC, not even crop.

I was thinking about cropping it across the back of his head, so that the eye more or less falls into the rule of thirds.

My question is:

Is this too much? Filling the frame with his head? Should I have backed off and gotten some environment? Does it work with the DOF the way it is, or should I have gone with a larger number?

Nikon D60
200mm
F/5.6
1/500
ISO 1600 (cloudy blah day)

[PrimeTime]

[QUOTE=scootermcq;914552]This image is SOOC, not even crop.

I was thinking about cropping it across the back of his head, so that the eye more or less falls into the rule of thirds.

My question is:

Is this too much? Filling the frame with his head? Should I have backed off and gotten some environment? Does it work with the DOF the way it is, or should I have gone with a larger number?

Nikon D60
200mm
F/5.6
1/500
ISO 1600 (cloudy blah day)

Hi scott, nice shot you have here. Still looks sharp even at iso1600. You could have backed it down to iso800 and still had a shutter of 1/250s. If your lens had IS,(or VR) you could have gone a bit lower .

Filling the frame, is the name of the game. Try to compose in-camera and leave just a touch of extra room to adjust composition.

I agree with your cropping sugestion, will make a nice close up portrait.

It's always a good idea to shoot a few wide/medium/close. Work around your subject ,when they let you, and shoot different angles. Pay attention to the light and adjust camera settings as you move around(when the light changes , you need to readjust the camera). Try and get eye-level with your subject(usually makes a better composition), and focus on the eye.


Depth of field , depends on your subject and how close you are. If there is a great foreground and background, you may want to show it off and leave it in focus. If the background doesn't add to the shot, go for max. blur , leaving only the subject in focus.