Would love some C&C..blue heron with dinner

[C. Brian Kerr]

Out shooting today and this guy caught my eye. What did I get right, what could be improved upon?

 

[tirediron]

Good moments, but they seem a trifle soft...

 

[spiralout462]

I would like to see the subject separated from the background a little more. The water texture is distracting and camouflaging the bird in my opinion. Better focus/sharpness would be a plus as well.

 

[C. Brian Kerr]

I would like to see the subject separated from the background a little more. The water texture is distracting and camouflaging the bird in my opinion. Better focus/sharpness would be a plus as well.

Agreed, I need to look into my system. I shoot with a d7100 w/ sigma 70-200. Having some issues with soft focus on moving targets. The lens has 2 stages of VR guess I'll try step 2 but I shot at a high ss so that shouldn't be the issue

 

[C. Brian Kerr]

Still soft but has the seperation

 

[John Hunt]

set your shutter speed to 1/1000th and the ISO to auto then turn off the VR. Make sure you have the focus set to AF C.

 

[DarkShadow]

#1 looks on the soft side and #2 looks out of focus.
BIF is tough,it takes a lot of patience,practice,timing and luck.You need to get close,the closer you are the better the detail. Also to much cropping will degrade the IQ.
If your camera allows you to see where your focus point was,you can check it when you preview the image to make sure it was not somewhere else other then the bird. Good catch on the action,keep at it.

 

[C. Brian Kerr]

I had to crop quite a bit, # 1 is full scene with the nest in the lower right which I like very much

 

[AvianStewardess]

It would be very helpful to know what your settings were on these shots, and your distance from the subject...

 

[C. Brian Kerr]

I will post the settings. Sorry

 

[DarkShadow]

Just a suggestion but if wildlife especially birds is what you like to shoot often, at least a 300mm lens is about minimum but more is even better.Something to think about down the road.Thats a huge crop even with the 24 pix sensor in the D7100,but It looks like it held together pretty decent. Don't be afraid to use your exposure compensation to ETTR ( Expose to the right) don't worry if you blow the sky out some what because in this case it is the bird you want with a good exposure.
Exposing to the Right - Digital Photography School

 

[C. Brian Kerr]

Both are shot at f8 1/320 ISO 320 I was set on ss priority and auto ISO. Sigma 70-200 zoomed to 200. I was approximately 60 yards to subject

 

[C. Brian Kerr]

Darkshadow that makes sense. That would have brought out more of the detail in the shadows ( chest feathers )

Saving for this Sigma

150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C

 

[DarkShadow]

And a smoother tonal transition and less image noise with some Post processing providing you don't expose to the point its just blow out that even shooting raw can save it.

 

[C. Brian Kerr]

Thanks DS. Just read the link you posted and plan on trying some side by side to get proficient with it