Sandpiper

[Peggyjom]

[IMG][/IMG]
Camera Canon EOS REBEL T2i
Exposure 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 370 mm
ISO Speed 200
Max Aperture Value 5.7
Subject Distance 7.06 m
Metering Mode Partial
Lens EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM +2.0x

To me it looks like the focus may have feel on the birds back. I am wishing I was better at postprocessing because I feel it needs to have some color in the background it looks a bit blown out. What do you think about that are the levels off?The subject is totally centered, can I get away with that here or is that pretty much a no no any time.

[karen_s]

First impression, very nice. It appears you may have a bit of eye contact and I do like the nice blurry background.

As to your questions ...

Focus. Honestly looked ok at this size but I took a look at the bigger one on flickr and you may be right. The focus does seem to be on his back. It's not missed enough to ruin the shot for me though, but certainly something to work on. 370mm at f5.6 probably isn't giving you a deep depth of field. You might experiment with with a narrower aperture (in the 7 range) and sacrifice a bit of ISO. It might give a you a bit more wiggle room. Here is a depth of field calculator that can be quite useful ...

Depth of Field Calcularor

Just a question for you ... how do you focus? More specifically, what mode and what is your focal point?

Background. Its bokehtized and lovely. It doesn't look blown to me. What you may be experiencing is that your subject looks dark compared to the background. Our eyes tend to look at the brightest parts of images so maybe your eye is just getting distracted by the brighter background. The bird itself does look a little underexposed though. If you have a dodge tool, you could try dodging (lightening) the bird a bit.

Composition. My interpretation of the rule of thirds may be a bit whacky for some but in my book, this shot actually kinda follows the rule. The birds eye (often a focal point) lands close to the top line of a third. Also, the bottom branch breaks nicely though the bottom third of the image. Yes, your subject is centered, but it still kinda follows the rule, just not in an obvious way. I think it would also work if you were to crop in from the right and a bit from the top to place the bird on the right third. Personally though, I like the more centered look for this shot.

Overall, very well done.

[Chip]

For the focus, the eye looks sharp to me . . . it's just the bird'd chest that's a bit blurry. Not much, though.

Otherwise, what I think bothers me a bit is that the bird is a bit too dark, relative to the brighter background. Could you brighten the bird and branch and darken the background?

Otherwise, I agree that the comp works. Although the bird is centered, the composition isn't static or boring. Works well for me.

Very nice photo. I'd be happy to call it mine.

[Peggyjom]

Thank you for taking the time to comment! I am off to watch some videos on elements 8 to see if I can pull this off (darken the back ground lighten the bird) It is a good picture to practice with. It is a lot harder than I thought to get it out of the camera right!

[DaveJ]

Ok I'm a complete newb but my passion is for birds/wildlife and I've been frequenting a fantastic site and have learnt quite a bit just by reading the critique sections! I think if this shot was posted on there the comment would be something along the lines of...

Great image which could have benefitted from some fill flash. Love the perch and head angle. The eye looks sharp on my screen. If it were mine I'd tone down the background especially the lighter areas to make the subject 'pop'. The subject is too central and if you have canvas on the left, I'd move him over to the right to give him some space to look into. Overall nice image which could be great with a little time spent in PP.

Again I am a newb so take anything I say with a pinch of salt. I think you did a great job on focusing manually with the 2X extender and would be pleased to have this in my files.

Regards DaveJ.

[lerabu]

I think everything's been said,

Regardless of the small issues this is a wonderful photo!

[forknuts]

critiques aside, this is a great looking shot!