Had an opportunity to do some bird shooting today, and decided to give it a try.
Overcast, equipment not ideal (Nikon D90, 70-300VR, ISO 3200) but it's what I had. These are IMO the two best from this session.
Settings:
- 1/1000, ISO-auto to ISO 3200 (had back luck previously with ISO auto set to 1600 -underexposed and lots of noise - so I tried to up the ISO this time).
- 170mm [ETA: I re-looked at the EXIF, it was 300mm]
- f/5.6
- Cropped
- minimally processed in CaptureNX and Photoshop (no attempt to play with exposure, IMO exposure was basically dead-on), Lightly Nik Dfined.
- "save for web and devices" from 2xxx at the longest to 800px.
Criticism - both in terms of technique, crop, and general artistic/subject interest -most welcome.
And the old equipment question comes up too
- I probably could have gotten two stops worth of detail/less noise if I used an 80-200 f/2.8. And probably as much, perhaps a it more if I used a full frame camera and the 70-300VR rather than a D90?
[ETA: looked at it on the iPad, it looks like the focus point on the top one is a bit forward of the head, on the same plane of focus as the forward cow's top left flank. Hmmm, perhaps I need to practice my AF-C focus a bit....
Thank you also for helping with the links, Mr. Chairman.
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