Yellow wagtail with a catch

[Atul Sinai]

Was observing Asian Openbill when this one suddenly landed nearby. Moved the camera and started tracking this one as it appeared to be looking for food. Fortunately for both of us it got the catch.

Location: Pune
Canon 600D. 400mm f5.6
Manual Exposure
Auto Focus
Manual metering
Shutter Speed 1/1000
Aperture 6.3
ISO 400
Focal Length 400mm
Cropped by 34%
Tripod Support

[Atul Sinai]

Here is a close-up shot, it was bit far away at this moment. This is 95% crop.

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice to see it with a catch. The eye contact is nice. The catch light looks good. Thanks for sharing.

[Bhargava Srivari]

Atul,

Nice moment. I like the first image. In the second one, the shallow DoF lessens the impact.

As for the first one, the composition is fine. Where was the focus point? Also, I am not sure but this appears a grey wagtail (I always am confused b/w the grey and yellow wagtails, so let me know if I'm wrong).

tfs

[Rajeev Khanna]

Dear atul
Your Images are always razor sharp , Few basic questions
Do you use center focus point only??
Focussing Mode a1 or a1 sevo??
Routinely use -ive exposure compensation in most Images
Help is much appreciated
Regards

[Anand Madabhushi]

The first image is sharp and nice. Wish there was a catch lite in the other too. :-)

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Nice image. It is good that you got the bird with the catch and parallel to the sensor plane. Some more details in the bird would have been great. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Nice.the catch adds to the image. Yellow wagtail in moult.

Bhargava if one finds any yellow /olive green on the wings / back it is a Yellow wagtail.

TFS
Roopak

[Atul Sinai]

Thanks for the comments.

Yeah, more depth of field would have been better here.

Going for slightly lower shutter speed 1/640 and higher aperture around F8 would have provided more details. Missed out on that one in shear excitement and I kind of got lost in observing this beautiful bird rather than thinking about the settings and changing them. Had set the settings to capture Asian Openbill on the other side of the river just used the same to capture this one.

Rajeev, I use single focus point only; not always the center focus point (use is mostly). Focus point is selected depending on the composition.

I try to manually focus wherever I get an opportunity.

I use One Shot for steady shot and AI Focus for action. Ideally AI Servo needs to be used for action, but my camera (600D) struggles to keep moving object in focus in AI Servo mode, its just not fast enough. After a bit of trial and error I have found better results with AI Focus.

I always use manual exposure mode and slightly overexpose the image without blowing of highlights to get more details and to have histogram towards the right side.

There are lots of valuable tips mentioned in Photography Tips and Workflow section in this forum.

Also feel free to call me on +91-9881578563 and I would be happy to help.

[Anand Madabhushi]

Atulji

Thanks for the patient talk last evening.

What is the best method to correct overexposure...for instance if I had over exposed the image by +1 how can I correct that to "0" compensation? Would moving the slider under "Brightness adjustment" help?

Regards

Anand

Thanks for the comments.

I always use manual exposure mode and slightly overexpose the image without blowing of highlights to get more details and to have histogram towards the right side.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Moving the slider down will help. However, if the highlights in the image is burnt, then you can't recover it. For shadow and highlight warning you can check here: Indiawilds: Land of the Tiger. Conservation, Wildlife Photography, Communities

I use One Shot for steady shot and AI Focus for action. Ideally AI Servo needs to be used for action, but my camera (600D) struggles to keep moving object in focus in AI Servo mode, its just not fast enough. After a bit of trial and error I have found better results with AI Focus.

If someone uses One Shot after placing the camera on a tripod and clicking a stationary subject, then I am ok with it.

Else, I would advice not to do it.

When you are clicking, you won't realise the amount of movement of a person. Those major (and micro) movements depending upon people is good enough for you to lose critical focus.

The best is to use AI Servo. Ofcourse, people who don't use 1 Series cameras will have a lower response as there are dedicated motors for AF in 1 Series cameras.
Sabyasachi