Dhole portrait

[Sabyasachi Patra]

This image was created in Nagarhole. I would have been happy with a slight head turn towards me. Look forward to your comments.

Canon EOS 1D, Canon EF 400mm f2.8 L IS USM, EF 2xII, ie. at 800mm, ISO 400, f5.6, 1/100, full frame.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice profile photograph.The image is sharp. The BG is nice and clear. As you have mentioned head turn towards you would have definately enhanced the image further..

[AB Apana]

Agree with Mrudul, it's an effective portrait. Got plenty of wild dogs on my recent trip and will be sharing these later.

Apana

[GSR Reddy]

Sabyasachi,

Very nice and sharp image, any animal which looks into the frame will be better for which we have to be lucky. When you focus only on the animal, you loose the background which makes the picture dull, is there any method that we can retain some details of background and as well get the sharp picture of the animal.

Ramesh

[Murugan Anantharaman]

lovely sharp image...i remember Apana once saying that in an ideal world the head would be turned towards you, which i agree too (ofcourse the context then was different!!)..

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Ramesh,
When you use a narrow aperture, more of the background comes into focus. For example in this image I have used f5.6. If I would have used a higher aperture like f8, f11 or so, then more of the background would have come into focus. However, you have to also see the distance between animal and the vegetation.

It also depends upon the distance between the background and the animal. If there is lot of distance then the background is rendered out of focus.

Sharpness depends a lot on technique. It is also dependent on the shutter speed you are using. Also check this link for sharpness:
http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Lovely image. I don't mind the head not turned towards you. In fact I prefer the composition this way, it reminds me of the very alert nature of wild dogs. A slightly greener background would have been better I feel, but obviously that is not within your control. Curious to know why you chose Av f2.8. If it was a slightly higher number, wouldn't you have got more parts, like the eye and the other ear into better focus?

[Mrudul Godbole]

Curious to know why you chose Av f2.8. If it was a slightly higher number, wouldn't you have got more parts, like the eye and the other ear into better focus?

The aperture used is f5.6 to take the photograph, f2.8 is the 400mm lens aperture, if that is what you had mentioned :-)

[Abhishek Jamalabad]

Oops! SO sorry about that, but as I mentioned, why not a higher no. for more parts in focus?

[GSR Reddy]

Ramesh,
When you use a narrow aperture, more of the background comes into focus. For example in this image I have used f5.6. If I would have used a higher aperture like f8, f11 or so, then more of the background would have come into focus. However, you have to also see the distance between animal and the vegetation.

It also depends upon the distance between the background and the animal. If there is lot of distance then the background is rendered out of focus.

Sharpness depends a lot on technique. It is also dependent on the shutter speed you are using. Also check this link for sharpness:
http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

Sabyasachi,
Thank you very much for your valuable suggestion. I am very happy for you that you share your experience with others, a very rare quality of a person in these days.
Ramesh