Common hawk cuckoo

[Sudipto Roy]

Common hawk cuckoo (papiya in most north Indian languages). Most gardens are full of this bird's song at this time of the year. Captured on Sunday in Narendrapur, CKBS, south of Calcutta.
Exif details - Aperture priority - Shutter speed 1/100. Aperture 8.0. Exposure compensation -1/3. ISO - 200. Lens EF 100-400. Camera Canon 450D.
Regards
Sudipto

[Sabyasachi Patra]

The lighting was tough. A higher shutter speed would have been good. I would have pushed up the ISO to 400, even though that would have resulted in a little bit more noise. However, in a tradeoff between noise and sharpness, it is always more important to get the sharpness even though there might be a bit more noise. In this pose, it is always important to have more depth of field to cover the tail and the head. It becomes easier, if the bird is perched side ways, so that a less depth of field can also work. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Sudipto Roy]

I keep the aperture at 8 and then shoot according to the meter with a little bit of exposure compensation depending upon the situation. I didn't know higher shutter speed resulted in sharper photos. Do you think there is some shake in this image that higher shutter speed could have eliminated?
Please explain why higher shutter speed results in sharper image? The bird was sitting still.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

A higher shutter speed will result in a sharper image. There are other variables as well.

Please check this following tutorial:
http://www.indiawilds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268

Just imagine you using a projector to project the power point presentation on a screen. Now imagine the screen vibrating. Can you see the presentation clearly in the screen?

Or for that matter a reflection on water. If there is ripples, that is if the water is moving, then the reflection is not hazy or not sharp.

Simlarly when you click an image, if the camera and lens is not steady the image will not be sharp. Steady means less of vibration.

When you press the shutter, your shutter goes up and light reflected from the subject passes through the lens and falls on the sensor. The photo receptors in the sensor sense the light and the signal is generated and then is processed to create the image. In case your camera is not steady, the image of the subject falls on several photosites, so there is a overlapping and the iamge recorded is fuzzy. A higher shutter speed will ensure that the light falls on the sensor for a smaller amount of time. So less susceptible to vibration. The higher is the shutter speed, lower is the time the light falls on the iamge, and hence less susceptible to vibration.

To know this better, stand infront of a mirror. Focus a torch light onto your lens. You will see that the light reflected from the front portion of your lens is moving up and down.

I hope my longwinded response could make it clear.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Bibhav Behera]

A good explanation provided by Sabyasachi I believe to the question of sharpness. The quality of the image has fallen due to the crop. Thanks for sharing.

[Praveen Siddannavar]

Nice image Roy, i liked the eye contact.

Sabyasachi - nice explanation on sharpness.

tfs

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice examples given by Sabyasachi to understand the basics. Tough conditions to photograph. The eye contact is nice.Thanks for sharing.

[Mohan Raj]

Sudipto, Nice to see another different cuckoo.
Image is blur at tail end.
TFS.

[Sudipto Roy]

I understand that faster shutter speed eliminates the possibility of shake. Quite elementary actually. But my unstated question was, do you think there is a camera shake in this image?
I fully agree with Bibhav about the agressive crop is affecting quality.