What’s wrong with this picture?
T
his image has two major problems with it. The two wild aracari toucans had come to a perch just above a feeder in Costa Rica, and the one on the left is out of focus due to shallow depth of field. The two problematic issues are (1) out of focus foregrounds are almost always distracting and visually annoying, and (2) when there are two subjects in a photography, both of them should be in focus. I used a Canon 500mm f/4 for the shot, and that meant the depth of field was limited since I was shooting wide open. The light was quite low in the jungle environment, and if I wanted more depth of field I’d have to raise the ISO. I was already shooting at 1250 with a Canon 5D Mark II (this was taken a few years ago), and I wasn’t happy with the noise from this camera at ISO settings much above this. Therefore, I was caught between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. What I was hoping for was a moment when the two birds might arrange themselves on the branch so they were equidistant from the camera. Then, even at
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