"I've Got my Eye on You" by Pat Kong:
Sharpness seems an issue here, too, but noticing that you caught this one in the wild makes me cut you a ~bit~ of slack. <vbg> I'm thinking you don't have many chances to grab one of a bird of prey. Also, using a 105mm (I'm assuming you had the lens as long as possible), you couldn't have been too far from it.
Hmmm, now you've got me thinking if I wasn't using a Tamron 75-300 lens... I had both w/ me that day. The bird wasn't that high up in the tree, so it *could* have been at 105mm. A bit after I took this shot, the bird spread its wings and flew to the top of a pine tree, much higher up. I was so awed by the bird in flight that I didn't take any shots of its short flight.
So, given all that, the focus/sharpness is acceptable. Wonderful expression on the bird's face (again with the bird expressions!).
I think it was checking out the crowd of humans checking it out. There was a kind of silent stealth in its stare.
Putting the bird dead centre might not be the most dynamic framing, though.
OTOH, again, in the wild, you grab and go. I like the little clump of leaves out of focus in the foreground. All in all, a competent, if not spectacular shot.
The clump is an effect from cropping in PS Elements. I'm glad it worked for you. I'm wondering if there wasn't something I could do to prevent or fix the way the chest feathers got blown out?
Thanks for the comments, Frank. I've finally decided to venture out of my shell and post to the PUG to get feedback like this.
Pat in SF
