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i took a bostload of images and will edit most only when i return to abu dhabi, but here is just one of my favorites, impalas:

Hello Brunilda;

I like that - A LOT

It's pin-sharp, and the overall colour-tones make the image with the Impala blending into their surroundings...

Just one little comment if I may... the image looks like it needs just a tweak to level it a little. Other than that - nice job...

Cheers...

PS: Can you post the EXIF data - out of interest... Thanx...

I love your beautiful impala picture Brunilda! I am too much of an amateur to give any advice, I think it is superb!

Thanks, i cant edit properly here while still on vacation, will redo edits ince back in abu dhabi. Will check the exif this evening but aas i remember i put the camera on av that day, f5.6 and i had on a 70-200 f4 with 1.4 extender. The shutter must have been pretty high. Iso i thhink was on 200.

Eos user what are you seeing specifically that i should remember to tweak? I am used to portraits of people so anmals is new to me, and definitely not much animals where i live so i cant reqlly practice.

Hi Brunilda;

My comment really was being 'picky'... I think the image is great... It just looks to me as if they are on a bit of a slope (they may well have been), and I think it would look better with them standing level...

The 70-200 f/4L is a SUPERB lens - even with the 1.4x attached it produces great images.

Cheers...

Love your pic....looks a bit like an oil painting!! Can't wait to see more.

Aha, now i get you, my mind was in photoshop mode and when i read level i thought, really how would i change levels, already tweaked the lvels on the animals...

I am a lover of straightening stuff too, will for sure do that when i am back in abu dhabi, there i have my big high resolution screen, perfectly calibrated, photoshop cs5 and something i am missing so much i am dreaming about it - my wacom tablet. I must say i am itching to get back and edit all my photos, i have tons, and i plan to make two calendars of it.

Oh and eos user, dont thinki mentioned, the camera i use is the eos 5d mark ii. The reason why i shot at f5.6 is that the extender automatically moved me to it.

To get it so sharp my camera is set to af servo. I back button focus with center point then recompose. Metering is evaluative, but to compensatfor shadows i set the iso higher at times. With the 5d i hardly have any noise if i shoot lower than iso 1600, provided the focus is spot on though.

Hello again...

f/5.6 looks to have been about right to achieve the required Depth-of-Field... Anything less and all the Impala would not have been sharp...

But a question for you... How can you 'recompose' when using AF Servo? Doesn't the Servo automatically re-focus as soon as you move the focal point?

Cheers...

PS - Abu Dhabi is on our TODO list! Been to Dubai a couple of times; now I need to get myself 'down-the-road' a bit

I personally am not a fan of an impala not cos theyre not beautiful animals but because they are too commonely seen I am a hunter of the unseen and the rarely seen thats my passion but still I love your Impy pic

Eos user, do you know how to back button focus? Its a setting you change in your menu, then when you have a specific focus you press the af button, it then remembers what you focused on and keeps that focus, if you then move the camera, it keeps that focus, doesnt refocus at all and you press the shutter without a refocus. Works a charm. I am sure if said object all of a sudden move way out of frame it will be hell but so far so good, ive been super lucky with focus fpr my pjoto sessions since i switched to thwt method, so much so i struggle to go back to using the shutter release to focus. A bit bad when i hand over my camera to hubby that is used to focus with the shutter button, cause it doesnt work that way anymore.

Sheenae - we got new appreciation for the impala since we live in uae. In fact my kids thought the cattle they saw were buffalo, and through their eyes we saw how beautiful impala really is. They both declared impala to be their favorites.

Hi Brunilda;

Yes; I'm familiar with 'back-button' focus, and using a single focal-point only, and with using AF Servo...

...but I never tried 'recomposing' using AF Servo! Perhaps I should

When I'm in that mode, I usually select either a 'right' or 'left' side focal point, dependant on the direction my subject is moving, and lock-on and track accordingly...

This'll be a good excuse to get the camera out & play

Give it a try, stick with centre point, less toggling back and forth, making it much faster. I have been quite successful with servo, heck single focus might work better, yet that is what another photog i had a workshop used and i stuck with it, you give me though to go play as well. I am loving my vacation to be able to play and enjoy my camera properly again, when back home i often have so many sessions it becomes a constant workmode.