Looking at me!

[readingr]

Local Park, Sunset

Exif:
Canon PowerShot Pro 1
ISO 50
F3.6
1/60
200mm
Manual Centre weight avg.

Roger

[gahspidy]

Roger, you must be pretty sneaky to get in that close at only 200mm.
Colors are great, lighting is ok, but would have been nicer had some of it fallen near or on the Egret, and the framing is fine. I like the branch in the lower right corner as it looks like it is offering the bird up for the viewer. The problem here is the bird is not sharp. You shot this at 200mm with a shutter of only 1/60? Handheld, ( assuming it was, but correct me if I am mistaken) it would be very difficult to get s sharp shot with those numbers. Your iso was down at 50. Had you increased the iso to 200, you would have had a much better chance at getting the sharp shot.
Overall, it is still a pleasing image, but I'm wishing the bird was sharper.

[sweetdeal22]

I agree with Gary on this one Roger, your bird is fairly blurry. When I look at it, my eyes demand more detail (the reflection is awesome though!). But the fact that you had your camera with you and was able to take that shoot is unbelieveable to me, good job

[swmdrayfan]

The first moment I saw this, my thought was that it was a marvelous shot. Then I noticed the egret was a tad soft. Still a great shot.

[readingr]

Roger, you must be pretty sneaky to get in that close at only 200mm.
The problem here is the bird is not sharp. You shot this at 200mm with a shutter of only 1/60? Handheld, ( assuming it was, but correct me if I am mistaken) it would be very difficult to get s sharp shot with those numbers. Your iso was down at 50. Had you increased the iso to 200, you would have had a much better chance at getting the sharp shot.

Firstly thanks for the encouraging replies - I wasn't sure about this because of the bird not being sharp. Anybody know what breed of bird it is, if it helps its got yellow/orange feet and its very quiet?

Gary - Yes hand held while crouching trying to get down to his level (not the most stable of positions), and I couldn't believe the EXIF when I read it back. I had been photographing the colours on the buildings and trees in the park from the sunset, and the camera was on manual. Couldn't risk the time to change the ISO settings I desperately wanted to take the shot regardless. I managed 2 before he departed. Until you mentioned it I didn't really realise how close I was (must have been all the mud deadning my approach )

Sweetdeal - Its the reflection and colours that grabbed my attention and the photo looks a a little better before reducing to 640 and compression, but still soft. I tried to use an unsharp mask and it created too many artifacts. I might try some more work on it - but what you see is almost what came out of the camera, just a small levels and crop.

swmdrayfan - Thanks, you already know why I took the shot because the same feeling got me when I saw it.

Roger
PS New Years resolution - must spend more time on photography!

[Yoyo Szeto]

Hi Roger,
It is a pity that the bird is not sharper. Other than that, the pic has all the important and interesting elements: warm and saturated colour, cool green, and water reflection. I wish the front branch were not there. An overall nice pic.
yoyo

[dbutler]

I agree with everyone else. Any chance it can be rescued with USM? The photograph as a whole is simply wonderful!

[readingr]

I agree with everyone else. Any chance it can be rescued with USM? The photograph as a whole is simply wonderful!

Finally managed to get one without too many artifacts - is this any better?

Roger