Roller with kill # 1

[Prashant Jois]

6/10/2011 7:46 am
Canon 7D with 100-400mm
Aperture priority
Tv 1/320
Av 5.6
ISO 100
Fl 400mm

Slightly cropped. I have used shallow DOF to get the focus only on the bird but now feel like F 6.3 or 7.1 would have been better as I could have got a bit of details as well.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Good that you got it with a catch.

Depth of field - whether shallow or deep - has to be according to the situation. Unfortunately too often photographers try only for shallow depth of field. And when they cannot get it, they try to clone the background and try to hide the fact.

If the bird is on the ground and if you are flat on your belly and clicking, then the background will be automatically out of focus and will appear pleasing. In this case, it appears you were clicking from a vehicle and the resulting angle has led to some amount of background visible even at f5.6 aperture. I suggest using the depth of field preview button to check how much of depth of field you are getting and set the aperture accordingly.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice you got it with a catch. The eye contact is nice. The catch light looks good. Agree with Sabyasachi about the DOF. Overall nice colours and details. Thanks for sharing.

[Prashant Jois]

Sabyasachiji,

Thank you for your valuable suggestions and you are right, I took this shot from a vehicle.

Regards,
-Prashant.

[Bhargava Srivari]

Nice one. It's been a while that I have seen an image of this bird with a catch. Thanks for sharing.

tfs