This Brown Pelican image was created in La Jolla, CA with the Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS lens and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering at zero: 1/2000 sec. at f/8. Early morning (8:53am) light.
If you plan on visiting San Diego next winter to photograph, getting yourself a copy of our San Diego Site Guide now will give you lots of time to study and learn all the great spots that we describe in detail. You can check out all of our great Site & Set-up Guides by clicking here.
When the pelican in the opening image went to sleep, I figured that it would be a good time to create some educational images so I created a series of photographs at varying apertures. In the animated GIF above, the image with the very soft, out-of-focus background was created wide open at f/5.6. The image that shows the wavelets defined relatively sharply was created at f/22. Of the two, which background do you prefer? Does the bird look any sharper at f/22 than it does at f/5.6?
My very great preference in this and in similar situations is to work wide open or stopped down no more than one stop. Doing so will yield the pleasingly out of focus backgrounds that I love so dearly and that define the BIRDS AS ART style. It is important to realize that this does not mean that this style is best for you….
I’l be packing my 800 and tons of other gear in my ThinkTank Airport SecurityTM V2.0 rolling bag this afternoon for my flights to Hawaii tomorrow. I recommend that bag or the slightly smaller Airport InternationalTM V2.0 for most folks to make their air travel easy. These high capacity bags are well constructed and protect my gear when I have to gate check it on short-hops and puddle jumpers. Each will protect your gear just as well. By clicking on either link you will receive a free gear bag with each order over $50.
Sorry, continuing earlier message. I have delkin 32 g sd cards on my xsi and my s90, with no problems.
Wide open is much better in this case.
Arthur, you give such great info. On your blog….thank you, I am really enjoying reading it, and all of the links you give makes for even more fun! I like the w/o and think it is sharper.
I much prefer the wide open image. Having such a smooth, almost liquid background actually makes the bird detail appear sharper in the wide open shot.
Smooth, OOF background all the way for me in most cases. My primary exception is if I’m going for an environmental portrait.