Hawthorn Blossoms

Nice composition & bird. Appears to be a bit OOF. Colors are nice. I don't know if you can sharpen it or not. I use the same lens and some times it is hard to get sharp.

Ken Johnson
Rogers, Arkansas

Nice composition and waxwing capture R. This might be better suited for the avian gallery with the bird being the center of attention for me. Good job, and hope to see more wonderful images.
Bob

Nice color, lighting, and very good separation between FG and BG. I think that this would "pop" more if it were sharper. My preference with birds is a more side or front view with the eye being visible, although this comp does showcase the red and yellow feathers of the waxwing.

Melvin: Welcome to the finest Flora gallery on the planet. While the bird is perhaps more than a party crasher there is still plenty of flora to keep this here. My immediate observation is the overall softness of the shot and no area that seems sharp. I've looked at some of your other posts and the same problem is apparent. You have a good camera and lens (is it the IS version?) so technique would seem to be the culprit somewhere along the line. My guess is you are hand holding and the auto focus is missing at the point of the shutter firing. Using a long lens magnifies this problem. Considering how much you spent for the gear you are using you certainly want to make the additional investment in solid camera support. Until you do a way that can give you better results is to set the drive on burst mode and hold the shutter down for several frames. The simple act of stabbing the shutter button induces camera movement and while your shutter speed might theoretically be fast enough to stop motion blur the AF can miss pretty badly. If you shoot a sequence of shots with the AF set to continuous you're almost sure to get one in the series that is sharp. About the only time I ever shoot hand held is if I'm chasing a butterfly and can't take the time to set up. Otherwise my camera lives on a tripod. I do have pretty good hand holding technique but I never trust the results to a single frame. Memory is cheap and the delete button is free. Hope this helps. Great to have you aboard and looking forward to more. >=))>

PS: You'll get even more shutter speed by adjusting your ISO to 200 or 400. With the 5DII you are not going to lose any significant IQ.

Very nice composition, but a bit OOF. Melvin, you should focus on the flowers in the middle of this image and reduce apperture to around 11-13.

Hi Melvin Glad to have another Canadian aboard Our fabulous moderator passed along some nice tips. Again, remember when you shoot iso 100, which is ok for landscape. not birds. check the avian site for ideas on birds, Again, You have one of the best cameras for flora. so with using a tripod, you should have fantastic results with more practice. good luck.
Albert Darmo Canada