Experimenting with F stops, this is F8. I had been trying to drop the focus on the background and keep it on the subject. This worked well. Any ideas on having a better idea on where the point of focus will drop off in the background for a better blur?
I think I'd open right up, Mike, as the background still looks a little distracting to me, making the bird harder to discern clearly at first. I know you'll lose a little sharpness and get some vignetting in the periphery, but that won't matter I suspect, as it will further focus attention on the bird's head, which should remain quite sharp enough.
I'm not sure I've understood what you were getting at in the last sentence. Surely the focus itself should be on the bird's eye? And essentially the more blurred the background, the better.
Thanks Chris, luckily he/she is a regular so I will go back and try wider aperture. I may be confusing level of detail in the shot with depth of field. As I think about it, I should have gone up and down a range of settings to see what works best. Focus should be the eye, I was talking about less focus on background. If I can fade it out I may see a better colour image as well.