Sunday, March 31, 2013

Photo of the Day

Backyard Wildlife
Camera: Nikon D5100
Lens: Nikon AF-S 55-300mm ED VR Zoom
F-Stop: f/5/6
Exposure: 1/500 sec
ISO: 3200
Exposure Bias: -0.3
Focal length: 300mm (35mm = 450mm)
Max aperture: 5
Metering: CWA
Photoshop: Curves adjusted to brighten for printing
Assignment: Depth of Field Control

I think I like this photo because he (she?) appears to be looking at me (ok, he is looking at me). From a technical perspective, I like the back lighting - especially on the tail, the translucence in the ear, and the catch light in the eye.  Also, I think the bushes and weeds in the background are nicely blurred by that wide open aperture. Still, the tuft of grass in the right foreground is annoying, and a faster lens would have let me blur out the shorter grass in the foreground, making this little guy stand out even more.  All in all, I like it.  And even though it is cropped over 50%, the non-web version of this photo will print nicely to about 11x16.