Humingbird at Rest

[WriterBarb]

[clockdoc]

Hi Barb,
Can you tell me a little more about how this was shot? It appears a bit fuzzy as if it were a tiny crop out of a much larger image. Not much sharpness or detail in the shadow areas and no light in the hummer's eye to give it life. Cropped a little to tight as well unless it was for a text illustration where column space was at a premium.

[WriterBarb]

Originally Posted by clockdoc

Hi Barb,
Can you tell me a little more about how this was shot? It appears a bit fuzzy as if it were a tiny crop out of a much larger image. Not much sharpness or detail in the shadow areas and no light in the hummer's eye to give it life. Cropped a little to tight as well unless it was for a text illustration where column space was at a premium.

I took this shot in the early evening when the little bird was sitting on a Yucca plant. There was a lot of follage around it so I thought it would make a better picture if I airbrushed it out with my Paint Shop ProX.

I cropped it so the bird would be the main focus. I took it with my point and shoot camera. I took the picture with flash .

I can't figure out how to make the picture sharper. Any suggestions?

[clockdoc]

It is probably impossible to sharpen this any more to a pont where you would be happy with it. Sharpening adjusts the contrast between adjacent lins of pixels. If the optical sharpness is not there in this shot then I don't know what more can be done. Part of shooting in low light levels causes autofocus systems to search for focus resulting in soft images. Sorry I can be of more help here.

[WriterBarb]

Originally Posted by clockdoc

It is probably impossible to sharpen this any more to a pont where you would be happy with it. Sharpening adjusts the contrast between adjacent lins of pixels. If the optical sharpness is not there in this shot then I don't know what more can be done. Part of shooting in low light levels causes autofocus systems to search for focus resulting in soft images. Sorry I can be of more help here.

Do you think if I would have set my camera to "nightscape" I could have gotten a clearer picture?

[clockdoc]

I honestly don't know, Barb. Nightscape, to my understanding, boosts the gain (light sensitivity) and probably the grain (noise) in the image. I also do not know what effect it would have on your camera's autofocus ability. Perhaps others can chime in with more helpful info.

[WriterBarb]

Originally Posted by clockdoc

I honestly don't know, Barb. Nightscape, to my understanding, boosts the gain (light sensitivity) and probably the grain (noise) in the image. I also do not know what effect it would have on your camera's autofocus ability. Perhaps others can chime in with more helpful info.

Thanks for all your feedback it's very helpful.