Again following Steves lead with a nice photo of some pelicans, here is a photo I took of some Mandarin Ducks at Taronga Zoo from our recent Sydney holiday.
This is the original image:
Metadata:
Canon 40D at 105mm (EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM).
Exposure: 1/45 s, f/4.0, Iso 200
Hand held.
This is the same image after cropping it a little bit.
Did the cropping improve it at all? It was only a little bit, but I couldn't decide which one I liked better.
I note that the bird on the right is a little out of focus. Maybe I should have set my aperture to f/5.6 or f/8.0 instead to fix that? I always have a hard time deciding if something is really sharp or not when checking on the LCD on the back of the camera, even when zooming in. I've not sure if the maximum magnification stops at 1:1 or not. Does anyone else know what Canon use as their maximum zoom in on the LCD?
Cheers!
Hey Steve,
ReplyDeleteIs 1200 pixels across too wide for you monitor to view 100%. If it is, I'll go back to 1024 across.
I could always include a 1:1 cropped version showing that the right duck is out of focus and not what I really wanted to do.
Cheers Gents :)
Craig,
ReplyDelete1200 pixels are fine. I'm viewing on a 24in 1920x1200 colour calibrated monitor. Zooming into the picture, I can see what you mean by the softness of the right hand side duck. However in a smaller print or image it's fine.
The bigger you enlarge an image the smaller the area of acceptable sharpness gets. That's why f/4 is a fast lens on a medium format camera and f/64 is used for landscapes.
I can't see much of a difference in the crops here. Perhaps the second one looks like you're about to chop off the close ducks foot. The original had a little more breathing space.
I love the colour in this image. The greens in the moss on the log complement the oranges in the ducks.
However what's really getting to me is the camera angle. It's such a top down touristy angle. It's much more interesting with wildlife to get down at eye level to the subject. It gives the viewer a greater sense of connection with the subject.
Since you shot this at a zoo you probably couldn't get down to eye level because of a wall. I have the same problem trying to shoot tigers. Getting good eye level shots usually means getting into the cage with them. The zoo staff and animals take exception to that kind of behaviour.
steve
Hey Steve,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip about getting eye level shots. I hadn't considered actively trying that before. You are correct in that its very limiting at Zoos, but maybe I could have leaned on the rail or something to get a little lower.
I was a bit disappointed with the out of focus duck. I was hoping to get them both in focus, but with the limited time, and people squishing in everywhere, I didn't think of just shooting it a few times with various apertures.
Ok, so the original photo without cropping is more appealing then.
I'm still learning how to crop better, so thanks for the feed back there too.
What did you use to colour calibrate your monitor?
None of the monitors I use are colour calibrated, which is a pain because photos look different on every one that I use.
Cheers!
Craig.
Craig,
ReplyDeleteRe: cropping,
If you're going to crop an image try to take a little off from behind the subject rather than in front. For these ducks taking from the top and left would be good, thus allowing the ducks space to walk forward.
I use a spyder 3 pro, once a month on my monitor to keep it's colours stable. Monitors shift over time too. I don't do any work on colour including white balance unless my monitor is calibrated.
steve
Hi Craig. Great colours in these ducks. FYI, I'm viewing on a 1920x1080 monitor that's not colour calibrated either. So 1200 wide is fine for me.
ReplyDeleteThe two ducks are great, but would have liked to see the second one in focus. Have you tried cropping out the second duck?
Another thing I see when looking at this image, is the bright white patch in the top right corner draws my eye, and then I bounce back to the central duck (which is unfortunately out of focus) Perhaps doing something to darken that up would help.
In terms of cropping (and I'm no expert on anything), I would crop out some of the bright white in the top right, but as Steve said, leave more room at the front.
Geoff.
Craig,
ReplyDeleteNow that Geoff mentions it, that bright spot in the top right does draw my eye. I'd burn it a bit too.
And in a similar tone, the left duck doesn't separate from the dark background much either. Perhaps shooting at an angle where the background can contrast the subject would be good. Since the ducks have some orange, maybe some green trees or grass.
steve