Killdeer Portrait

A beautiful shot !!

Yes, Killdeer. An adult Semipalmated would lack the white patch above the eye and have a bi-colored (orange / black) bill. A tight portrait. If you have the room in the original try adding back some space in front of the bill. It won't feel quite so restricted. The eye is sharp as is the bill. The DOF seems to fall off faster than I would expect even wide open. Which one of the 1.4x's do you have the Mark I, II, or III? Good job getting down to its level. It makes a big difference.

Thanks for comments! And thanks for the confirm on the ID, and suggestion re: space on right, Rick - I do have it, but for some reason cropped it off like this and thought it worked. I can definitely put it back.

Re: focus: I'm pretty sure I have the Mark II TC. The wind was pretty strong - might the lack of clarity or sharpness in the feathers of his wing be because of that? (I can't tell if it's focus dropping off steeply or motion blur because of wind.)

Nice job getting so close to this species with that focal distance Rebecka. Good detail and I like how you framed this portrait.

Nice portrait of the Killdeer. Good detail and sharpness.

Nice portrait, Rebecka. In regard to the dof, it looks to me like the focus may have been on the bill with the eye toward the front end of the dof. Hard to say when distance is unknown, but at 10 feet you only have 2/10 of an inch in front of the focal plane. Not a lot to work with.

Rebecka, the mark II converter should be fine. The mark I didn't perform as well. Oddly the mark III only gives a minor improvement if you don't have one of the newer mark II lenses. The bigger feature there is the chip in the converter that talks to the chip in the lens and the camera to improve focus speed and focus lock.

It definitely could be wind, but I suspect Dennis may also be onto part of it with the very narrow DOF at a short focus distance. More of an observation than an issue. Your eye and bill are tack sharp and those are the keys elements that need to be.

Rebecka,
I believe that Dennis nailed this with the depth of field being the culprit on the lack of sharpness in the feathers particularly when shooting wide open. f/10 or more would have been much better. Otherwise you have a really beautiful image and I love the crop you've chosen. To me it does not need any more room on the right side. Feels good as is. I really like this image a lot. Nice job getting this close and at eye level.

Hello Rebecka. Most about the DOF has been said already, just want to tell you that I do like the shot and composition ! Greetings, hans