Blue3

Out of focus or hand shake. Nice subject.

Diana,

Hi & welcome to Photo.net!

I know that this is not one of the two images that you have currently submitted for any critique/comment. However, I chose this Blue Jay shot as most of my experience is with shooting Nature/Wildlife, and hopefully I can offer some useful information.

The first thing that I notice from the EXIF (Shooting info) data is that you shot this at a focal length of 300mm. with a Shutter speed of 1/250th.

I would recommend selecting a Shutter speed of at least equal to the focal length or greater, especially when shooting "hand-held." Had this been shot with a Shutter speed of at least 1/500th of a second, I think you would have been pleased even more with the final outcome, and would have resulted in a much sharper image of the Blue Jay.

The lighting on the Bird here probably was not all that great either, but could have been adequate. I don't know just how well the XT handles any higher ISO than the ISO 400 you were shooting at. So, upping the ISO could have also been a consideration, and would have made the possibility of getting the faster Shutter speed an alternative.

The EXIF also shows an Aperture setting of f/5.0 which is probably a good choice. Usually most lens will perform best at or near their largest Aperture opening.

All in all, . . . an acceptable image but, could have been better in my opinion (worth nothing!) had you managed to better control the possibility of some noticeable camera shake. (A very common problem with telephoto shots.) Of course, another great tool for lower/poor light and to help with camera shake is to use either a Monopod or Tripod which can allow slower Shutter speeds to be used.

Regards & Happy Shooting!

Cheers,

Jim j.

Jim has given you a great critique of this shot and I'll expand a bit on it because I too shoot with the XT.  I avoid 800 ISO shots "if" at all possible.  However, I believe this was probably one that I would have used it if I were there.  I do not know what lens you were using, only that you took the shot at 300mm.  My 70-300 will only open up to 5.6 @ 300mm so if I had to take this shot, hand held.  I would first look for some way to brace myself (this is all assuming no tripod) then look at the info in the view finder and see if I will be able to shoot at something at or above 320 in this case.  It's been my experience that in this scenario, 800 is better than too slow of a shutter speed...not by much, but better.