Quote:
Originally Posted by MP0WER
Nice Dave!
Are you shooting through a fence?
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Your eagle eye spotted one of the "flaws" in this shot.
The shadow running through the ground squirrel (it's really not a chipmunk, but I think it looks much like one and makes a better title) is barbed wire. If you click on the image it'll take you to the Flickr page, where I have shots of the bird on the fence post, eating the little guy.
I had the 500mm and the 1.4x TC on the camera and couldn't fit the whole bird in the camera. Also, there were focus issues, trying to get the bird's eyes in focus and the squirrel also; however, the long focal length and close proximity almost totally overcame the barbed wire in the way, so I'm not complaining. BTW, it was handheld and I'd probably have never gotten it with a tripod.
So, this image is full of "flaws", but let's see how it does in the contest. I think that the quality of the action will often trump technical flaws. I've got a National Geographic book that my brother gave me at Christmas, showing the top NG images of all time. It's a great book, which I highly recommend. Anyway, I noticed flaws in almost all of the top wildlife images, including serious blurring caused by the photographer running from wild animals in more than one case. The "event" was what was important and the common thread in those top images, not techincal perfection. Getting both, of course, is the goal, but being there when something "special" happens is often the most important aspect.
Dave