Downy Woodpecker?

Gallery: AvianPosted February 1, 201061 views4 comments

I think this is a female Downy (confirmation is appreciated)

Canon Rebel XTi EFS 55-250 f4.5-5.6 IS
ISO 200 1/2000 f/5.6

I struggle with sharpness. I am definitely a novice (doing this only for the last 2 months) with "weak" hardware and shaky hands. Can't figure out where the biggest problem is.

Thanks in advance for the helpful suggestions and advice

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on February 1, 2010 at 9:50 PM

Jimmie,

Female downy is correct - note the very small bill.

As for sharpness - the shutter speed is more than enough, so that is not contributing to a lack of sharpness. Due to the noise in the image, and the low ISO, I'm guessing this is a large crop - which you did not indicate. The easiest way to inform us of how much is to multiply the number of pixels left after the crop and divide that by the number of original pixels. Another factor is the POF (point of focus) and because this is probably a large crop it's difficult to tell where the point of focus would be.

Other factors include aperture (f-stop) and zoom. Most telephotos tend to produce their sharpest results @ f8. And zoom lenses are all different... but generally the sharpest is just shy of full zoom (perhaps 230mm on this particular lens)

- Luke

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on February 1, 2010 at 10:21 PM

Hi Jimmie. You are at the right place to improve your avian photography. A monopod or tripod is a good investment to help with the shaky hands; a monopod might actually be your best investment with this lighter lens and will also still permit mobility for getting closer to the birds. Square crops might seem logical, but many photographers find it a difficult format to work with (I certainly do).

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Hal Trachtenberg on February 2, 2010 at 6:42 AM

Yes it is a downy. Looks like a female, but can't be sure since I can't see the top of the head for that red patch that the males have. You saw the bird, so if there was no red patch on the back of the head, then it's a female.

As for the sharpness, I think your ISO is too low for starters. Shooting at f/5.6 I wouldn't go lower than ISO 400, unless you are using a tripod. Second, are you sure your IS is turned on?. It would also agree with Luke on the cropping issue. It does seem like a large crop and there is noticeable noise. However, the photo is not that bad considering that you did have low ISO and possible larger than usual crop, and you did manage to get the catchlight in the bird's eye, which is always a good thing. All I can say is keep practicing and shooting. We were all where you are now at some point. Gotta start somewhere.

Registered on December 26, 2009, 31 Posts, 40 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on February 2, 2010 at 7:33 AM

Jimmie

I agree, downy woodpecker.

This does look like a large crop and images can suffer from loss of detail the more they are cropped.

It looks to me like you had some contrasty light to deal with too. Your shutter speed was fast enough, perhaps adding a monopod to your gear would be helpful in producing sharper shots?

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments