The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Just going for a walk at our local beach yesterday. There were fifteen or twenty willets with a few godwits mixed in chasing the waves back and forth down the beach looking for sand crabs.
Specific Feedback
I liked the leg positions on these. In the first they were all crossed, and the second they were all spread. It kind of reminded me of a small dance at the edge of the surf as they ran from the incoming wave. I also liked their reflections in the wet sand. Ideally I would have had a bit more space on the ends to work with, but I cropped a bit off the top and the bottom of these to try to balance the images more. I used a minus Exposure Bias to try to calm down the bright waves.
Ed, what a great couple of pictures. I think of a chorus line. The depth of field is spot on to my eye. The foam in the waves and, of course, the detail in the birds is where it needs to be. I can almost hear the music playing to the hum of the surf.
I love the low angle on these, Ed, and the Minuet title fits well. To my eye all the birds seem just the tiniest bit soft. I looked at both images closely and it looks like the AF picked up on the front of the foam-not surprising for that generation of AF. The softness isn’t a major issue given the subject matter of the image (the dance), just part of that nit-picking critique we tend to do around here.
Is your lens the 100-400 II? I had the first generation for awhile and though I knew people that got great results, I never could do anything with it-finally traded it in on a 300 f/4. I understand the second generation was much better and paired well with the teleconverter.
Thank you @Dennis. It has been very frustrating that I can’t quite seem to get a really sharp image. I’ve never been sure if it is the AF system or what. It is the 100-400 IS II. I think I need to just take the teleconverter off and try it without it. I’m not ready to buy new equipment at this point. Thank you for the recommendation and helping me to understand a bit more.
@Dennis_Plank I just reviewed a couple of YouTube videos by Simon d’Entremont about AF settings and hopefully I’ll get a chance to practice some tomorrow.
Hi Ed, nice line up and poses! Great to catch them right before the foam.
Agree with Dennis on sharpness. What AF points were active for these shots? If you use Canon DPP, you can see which AF point was achieving focus and where also.
@Allen_Sparks I was expecting motion so I used AI Servo and center focus. I’ve been trying to get the bird in the center in focus and it seems to be focusing on the foam instead. It’s been about eight years or so since I’ve had my camera and/or lens serviced. Could that be contributing to the focus issues?
I just reviewed a couple of YouTube videos by Simon d’Entremont about AF settings and hopefully I’ll get a chance to practice some tomorrow.
FWIW, for action shots with my 7D mark II, I almost always used the 15 center autofocus points as opposed to the single center point. This helped me keep the subject on an active focus point. This is assuming the scene wasn’t too cluttered and I could keep the focus points off anything in the foreground. This was especially helpful for birds in flight but I also used it for birds actively feeding on the beach.
Ed, Just a comment on sharpness. I have had a great deal of success with Topaz’s AI Sharpen. Their new product is AI Photo which does noise and sharpen. Its not cheap to buy initially. I am sure they have a 30 day free trial. I would suggest to try that and see what you think. My wife has the 100-400 MK I and it was sharp although never tried a converter
Thank you @mark28. I just bought Topaz denoise and it has a sharpen feature that has been pretty good. I’m hoping to figure out how to get the sharpness one of these days with my gear.
@Allen_Sparks thank you for going back to look at the owl images and providing your suggestion on increasing the focal points. I have now switched my AF to nine central points for moving objects. @David_Bostock thank you for the chuckle.
