A single parrot

[Bo_]

I took this picture of a parrot sitting in a cage in Knuthenborg safaripark. I tried to "remove" the wires in the cage by using a wide aperture. And I got the parrot very sharp around the eye - but the rest of the picture is not so sharp (it might even have a slight white blur). And I have not edited the picture to get this ef-fect. Could the effect have been made by the wires in the cage? Or was my DOF that small that only the eye got sharp? (the DOF calculator gives a sharpness distance of 1 cm)

And what do you think about the picture in general - what could I have done better? Have I cropped it to tight?

Aperture f/3.5, shutter speed 1/200 and the camera was a canon powershot s3is max zoom. The sky was clouded.

[melanie2457]

I like it! Even though the feathers on the back of his head get a bit blurry, I still like it! I do think it's cropped a tad too tight in front of him.

[thenimirra]

I like it to! I'm still so new at this that I enjoy reading the critiques from others just so I can learn what makes a "good pic" a "good pic."

They all look good to me, dammit! Before and after!

[epeyton@tampabay.rr.com]

I love the picture too, I know the wire can cause the effect you see. I get that with my tigers sometimes. Did you scare the bird?

[windrider86]

I somtimes forget that I have a gorgeous parrot of my own that i could shots like th is at home. Thank you for reminding me. I've had my bird for 25 years. I guess since I see her every day i dont th ink of her as a subject. Hmm can you guess where I am going with this!

[xxpinballxx]

Looks like a conure? I use to have a cherry headed conure and a sun conure...
I think the over all icture is a bit bland..not enough contrast in my eyes. I notice it more around the beak where it looks a bit off. I love the shot though.
What type of bird do you have...my beloved Tabitha is in a breeding facility now. She needed more than i could give her at the time so i did what was best. I was working and going to school so she was lonely and unhappy. I miss her something aweful!

[subrataofkris]

The combined effect of a high zoom and small DOF has probably caused the blur, it almost looks like you have masked a little portion around the eye and blurred the rest. Its definitely not the feathers swaying in the wind because the beak is equally blurred. The colours are less saturated because of the exposure, this you can easily change during edit. Do you have room to the left? Then crop it a tad tighter to the right and leave more vacant space in front. What is that white section behind the beak? Is that the other wing?

Nice try, but I was expecting more colours.

[Bo_]

Here is the original - and - as some of you write - I have probably cropped it to tight. It was to get the eye in the upper/left third corner.

On the original it is more evident that it probably is the wire that gives the ef-fect - because of the square white patterns in the picture. It is just funny that the colours are reduced - I have another parrot that ended up almost white.

But anyhow I like the outcome.

[goshort]

my dear sir, under the circumstances u did yr job very well i mean by using the wide aperture to catch the bird and u must be satisfied what other camera would have exposed under the current situation using same aperture. either get the eyes sharp and retain the bird or with smaller aperture, face the cage and lost the bird what it is now. i liked this one. thanks.