Catch of the day

[Steve S]

[Donald]

Steve

I've never shot with anything longer than 200mm. I'm amazed how shallow the DoF is, even at f8, at 420mm.

That's just an observation, not a criticism.

As always, the presentation of the bird is outstanding. That's a pretty strong straight line running through the image from left to right, but we can understand, that in the context of this being a nature photograph whereas it might be seen as a problem in some images, it is not so here.

[ktuli]

Steve,

I am always curious (and have been debating starting a new thread specific to this topic)... how much cropping have you done for the presentation here. If a significant amount, would you mind sharing the original?

- Bill

[Steve S]

Steve

I've never shot with anything longer than 200mm. I'm amazed how shallow the DoF is, even at f8, at 420mm.

That's just an observation, not a criticism.

As always, the presentation of the bird is outstanding. That's a pretty strong straight line running through the image from left to right, but we can understand, that in the context of this being a nature photograph whereas it might be seen as a problem in some images, it is not so here.

Donald, this was shot at about 15 feet, which is why the depth of field is so narrow.

This is one of the parents ,of the baby sparrow nest i posted a couple days ago. I found if i sit next to the tree the nest is in, they will come quite close (with food in their mouth for the young).

[Steve S]

Steve,

I am always curious (and have been debating starting a new thread specific to this topic)... how much cropping have you done for the presentation here. If a significant amount, would you mind sharing the original?

- Bill

Bill, this image is cropped about 40%. I do a combination of scaling and cropping of the raw image, to get this result. I use DXO for my raw editing/ then a couple tweeks in lightroom/ then finish it off in photoshop.

This image was scaled about 20%(using dxo) and cropped 20%.

My camera is only 10Mp, and i found that using a combination of scaling and cropping, i get very good results.(and stronger compositions) Much better than just cropping alone.

[JohnC]

Your patience waiting by the tree has been very well rewarded - a wonderful shot.

[Steve S]

Your patience waiting by the tree has been very well rewarded - a wonderful shot.

Thank you john.

[jeeperman]

Steve, I will agree it was worth the wait. Your focus and DOF are spot on but what makes it for me was the worm, you could not have hired him to pose any better.