Rework
Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
With every shift and turn, the darter showcases its feathers, a masterclass in natural elegance, making the mooring its personal catwalk.
Any feedback welcome
335 mm at ISO 200 and 1⁄500sec at ƒ/10
Hi Saundie, a fine image of this darter. I like the diagonal of the bird in the image and the interesting pose with the curved neck. Dynamic lighting. I could see trying a version having more space on the left and especially on the right where the bird is facing. The neck and beak of the bird seem rather soft. Thinking this may be caused by a rather slow shutter speed for movement. Perhaps raising the ISO and increased shutter speed would have helped with that. Would have loved to have seen this fascinating bird on one of those rocky perches but I’m guessing the post is more typical of where they are found.
Thanks Allen, I have expanded the crop as suggested, also tried to sharpen the head and neck, but there isn’t much there to work with. What would be the minimum shutter speed be to avoid head movement etc.?
The darter unlike the cormorant prefers sheltered flat water, it would be extremely lucky to catch one down on the rocks, but I live in hope. Thanks for the feedback! 
Saundie, I like the composition of the repost with more room especially on the right.
As far as minimum shutter speed, for action of a large bird I’d like to be at least at 1/1600s if I can still manage an appropriate aperture. I like your choice of f10 in this image (I often use that for perched birds). If I can’t get to 1/1600s given available light, then I try for at least 1/1000s and so on. I shoot in multiple burst mode even for perched birds with the hope that I can catch a pause in the head movement if there is one. Knowing how high you can go in ISO with your particular camera body (and noise reduction software) is important. This will help you know how to push each setting for maximum results. In this case, I think you could go a good bit higher than ISO 200. You could list you camera body if you want help with that.
Btw, for birds in flight, I try to get to a faster shutter speed, say at 1/2500s or 1/3200s if possible usually with wider apertures since I am typically shooting at a farther distance and will have more DOF. That said, lately shooting owls in flight before sunrise has challenged me with shutter speed also but that is an anomaly. Again, I’ll try to start at 1/1600s for BIF if in low light if possible.
Hope that helps. Love seeing your work here.
Thanks for all the information, Allen. That’s a lot faster than I thought. It makes total sense now, looking at my images that are slightly soft, and considering the speed at which I was shooting. I’m using burst mode, which makes for a tedious cull compared to my normal landscape work. I’m using a Canon R5, and I believe they say noise starts to appear at ISO 3200, so I have room to manoeuvre there. I’ll make more use of that on my day out.
The fastest bird I have successfully shot in flight is a pelican, which is akin to shooting a taxiing 747. I figured I’d start off with a more static subject and work my way up to the F14s slowly. The mind boggles when I see perfect shots of flying birds here. Having tried a little, I now know how hard it is! I have archived those figures you quoted for when I get there.
All this has been a great help, and I will put it to use. Many thanks, Allen.
