walking the edge

[Steve S]

I shot this today, in the afternoon(not the best light). I wasn't paying attention and was a little shy on my shutter speed and it came out a little on the soft side. I really like the colors and composition though...........................do you think the softness hurts the image that much? This was shot with a canon 35 f/1.4L..............and yes i was that close.

[David]

Steve - No I don't think softness hurts the image. Everything appears to have worked fine.The composition with its frame within a frame is great, the balance of colours for the season is spot on. Great shot.

David

[Donald]

...do you think the softness hurts the image that much?

Steve

NO!. I'm with David on this one.

I think you've captured a wonderful sense of calmness and peacefulness (and that animal wouldn't be that close to you if you weren't calm and peaceful as well). Definitely a feeling of you, nature and the environment in harmony. I do like it.

[Steve S]

Thanks guys , i appreciate the input. Not use to a lens without IS .

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Steve,

I note the shutter speed was 1/50s, so even without IS, it complied with the 1/(FF eq FL) rule of thumb - although I appreciate that doesn't guarantee a sharp shot.

Can I be an absolute swine?

I think the subject does look a bit soft, well, softer than the trees.

It is possible the deer 'twitched', however, I think you may be able to improve things with slightly different sharpening regime.

Looking at the picture, I think you sharpened with too high a threshold because the higher contrast edges (tree branches, etc.) are reasonably well defined, but anything with lower contrast (leaves, etc.) looks distinctly 'mushy', including the poor old deer.

At iso160, I wouldn't have thought you'd need so high a threshold to avoid sharpening noise.

Also, (I did say I was going to be an absolute swine, didn't I?), I am 'troubled' by the foreground branch top right; it is very prominent and sharper and more contrasty than the subject. I would be tempted to blur it significantly and reduce the contrast by toning down the bright top edge.

If you want to really mess with reality; taking a clone brush to the end of it might be an idea, it currently points out of the top of frame - compositionally, wouldn't it be nice if it pointed (at least) slightly towards the deer?

BTW, what is your secret, how can you get that close?
Were you in a hide?
Or are you a deer too?

Seriously though, I hope that reads as constructive help and not bashing a lovely image.

Cheers,

[Steve S]

Hi Steve,

I note the shutter speed was 1/50s, so even without IS, it complied with the 1/(FF eq FL) rule of thumb - although I appreciate that doesn't guarantee a sharp shot.

Can I be an absolute swine?

I think the subject does look a bit soft, well, softer than the trees.

It is possible the deer 'twitched', however, I think you may be able to improve things with slightly different sharpening regime.

Looking at the picture, I think you sharpened with too high a threshold because the higher contrast edges (tree branches, etc.) are reasonably well defined, but anything with lower contrast (leaves, etc.) looks distinctly 'mushy', including the poor old deer.

At iso160, I wouldn't have thought you'd need so high a threshold to avoid sharpening noise.

Also, (I did say I was going to be an absolute swine, didn't I?), I am 'troubled' by the foreground branch top right; it is very prominent and sharper and more contrasty than the subject. I would be tempted to blur it significantly and reduce the contrast by toning down the bright top edge.

If you want to really mess with reality; taking a clone brush to the end of it might be an idea, it currently points out of the top of frame - compositionally, wouldn't it be nice if it pointed (at least) slightly towards the deer?

BTW, what is your secret, how can you get that close?
Were you in a hide?
Or are you a deer too?

Seriously though, I hope that reads as constructive help and not bashing a lovely image.

Cheers,

Thanks for your critique dave..................i found out what i did..............dumb azz .............i left the focus drive on alservo from the previous shoot and forgot to change it back. I was wondering why some were sharp as a tack and others were soft .