[aboekman]

Greetings! I'd love to hear what you all have to say about this image. I caught these baby cardinals earlier this spring.

-Andrew

[JMitchell]

Think this is really good. Great comp and colours. You could ask for a bit more DOF, but I doubt there was very much light so it might not have been possible.

[aboekman]

Thanks so much for the comment. When I loaded it on my computer I had the same response. I shot it at 1/40s F5.6 I could have easily upped my iso (I believe I was only at 200) and stepped down my aperture a bit.

Not having a shot with more DOF I decided to play up the shallow focus. I sharpened the center fellow and blurred his siblings a touch to make the sleepy one the subject.

Do you think I should do even more blurring to make the subject more obvious?

[Rob Barron]

To be honest, my immediate thought was, 'What a shame those gorgeous beaks aren't sharp' as I find the closed eyes and face to be the 'ugliest' (just because birds like that are, not because you've done anything wrong Andrew!) part though i do like the fluffy hair which helps break it up a bit. I'd have been quite happy if the right-hand beak was the point of sharp focus and let the rest blur off as actually it's on the same plane as the left beak so that would probably have come into focus as well.

Don't get me wrong, seeing your comments on why you went this way I think you've achieved your desired result pretty well. It's only a matter of personal taste that makes me prefer the other way so this is not wrong at all

Hope mum didn't see you there or you'd have been in trouble <g>

Cheers,
Rob

[aboekman]

I think you're right Rob. My original intent was to have the rhs chick be the subject but on my screen I noticed that the middle guy was sharper. I'll look back to the original and maybe I'll be able to sharpen that beak up enough.

Thanks for the thoughtful comments.

[Markulous]

This is great! Very enjoyable!

I always leave a shot as sharp as it can be but may play with dodge and burn to highlight/push back.

Personally I'd not worry about the focus but go for max clarity all around!