Vole and Otters

[kiristar]

Have reworked a couple of pics from BWC since Lightroom supports the 7D and noise seems a fair bit improved with the new settings.

2009 BWC Vole-1.jpg (196.6 KiB) Viewed 343 times

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EXIF-Data

Canon EOS 1000D, 180mm, 1/320s, F/3.5, ISO800, Manual, Pattern Metering, 0EV, Wed Sep 30, 2009 3:03 pm

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2009 BWC Otters-3.jpg (140.99 KiB) Viewed 343 times

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EXIF-Data

Canon EOS 1000D, 180mm, 1/2000s, F/3.5, ISO800, Manual, Pattern Metering, 0EV, Wed Sep 30, 2009 1:33 pm

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[Steve]

Hi,

I really like the first one, the low angle and composition have really helped the vole to stand out from the surroundings.
The camera does seem to have focussed on the nose rather than the eye - it's a very easy mistake to make though!
The best way I find to ensure focus is on the eye is to change the camera so that only the central autofocus point is selected. Then, you just centre the camera over the eye, focus, compose without moving too much and take the shot.
Another thing that would have helped is a little more depth of field, although I can appreciate light levels were low here. F/8 probably would have been ideal, but then that would mean a far slower shutter speed!
As such, my suggestion for these conditions is to try and shoot the subject so the head is side-on (just like you have done in the second photo); that way, most of the subject is within the same plane of focus, and far less D.O.F is needed to keep the whole subject in focus, allowing faster apertures to be used.

The second photo is great ; nice and sharp and a great pose with a bit of action thrown in too.There doesn't seem to be a real noise problem on either of these pictures.

[kiristar]

Thanks for the comments.
I think you might mean the user of the camera focussed on the nose Working on dof practice now so hopefully improving.
Didnt have a tripod at the time which might have allowed slower speeds... the voles were twitchy little things too.

Otter's an interesting shot - generally with the 1000D front to back movement tracking was a challenge so profile shots were what I was left with. Just a shame about the light being so dull