He said what?

[tbond]

I spent about an hour standing in the tree, and took about 100 shots to get this one.

[Iguanasan]

I spent about an hour standing in the tree, and took about 100 shots to get this one.

Wow! Great dedication!

I generally use spot focus. i take the point in terms of getting the fstop up to about 8. Soooooo much to learn!
thanks.

Hmmm...interesting. Let me investigate further if you don't mind...

What are you shooting with? (Camera, lens?) What focal length was this taken at? If you have your camera set to spot focus what focus mode do you have it on? Single shot? AI Servo? Sometimes the EXIF can be very helpful but it depends on the variables of which there are many!

[tbond]

I don't mind at all, there is so much to learn!
I have a Canon 550d, lens for this shot was a Tamron 17-270
The camera was set on servo and was handheld, as birds were all through the tree, feasting on the fruit. I spent a good hour looking and taking as many interesting shots as possible. These birds are very small (about 3 inches or 7cms in height) and don't stay still unless they are actively feeding, so for most shots there are only seconds to see the opportunity, get the bird/s in veiwfinder, focus and shoot. Distance from camera to subject ranged from 2 metres to 10 metres. I obviously can do better with the camera settings for this sort of situation.
Single spot focus used.
f6.3
ISO 500
exposure 1/2000 sec

[Iguanasan]

I don't mind at all, there is so much to learn!
I have a Canon 550d, lens for this shot was a Tamron 17-270
The camera was set on servo and was handheld, as birds were all through the tree, feasting on the fruit. I spent a good hour looking and taking as many interesting shots as possible. These birds are very small (about 3 inches or 7cms in height) and don't stay still unless they are actively feeding, so for most shots there are only seconds to see the opportunity, get the bird/s in veiwfinder, focus and shoot. Distance from camera to subject ranged from 2 metres to 10 metres. I obviously can do better with the camera settings for this sort of situation.
Single spot focus used.
f6.3
ISO 500
exposure 1/2000 sec

While AI Servo is definitely a great idea for things that are fluttering about it's what made you miss the focus a bit. The centre of the image (unless you cropped it) is the wing on the left bird. That's in pretty good focus. Right where the centre point focus would be for AI Servo. If you get another opportunity try pointing the centre point directly at their eyes and take that shot. You can then crop for a slightly better composition.

[asnow]

I spent about an hour standing in the tree, and took about 100 shots to get this one.

WOW. That must have been a long conversation. Nice patience and catch. I agree that this picture would have been even better if the eyes had of been tack sharp.

[tbond]

Thanks for that, will try on other shots, this particular opportunity won't come again untill the fruit is ripe in July/august next year.

[Iguanasan]

Thanks for that, will try on other shots, this particular opportunity won't come again untill the fruit is ripe in July/august next year.

I feel your pain. Saw an awesome shot one morning on the bus for sunrise and didn't jump off the bus. Then I realized that the subject wouldn't line up with the sunrise again for at least 6 months :(