Portrait of a Pigeon

This is an unconventional image for me.

Firstly, I am not a bird photographer.

Secondly, it was shot in dreadful light.

Neither is an issue in this case, as I was simply playing with my newly-acquired Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS USM lens.

This lens is known for being extremely sharp, and I suspect most people who look at this image -- and far better images which more revealingly highlight its capabilities -- will agree.

Eager to play with my new toy, I went outside, and found a pair of pigeons foraging around for morsels of food on the ground, so I decided to photograph them.

One or two images were decent enough to actually publish -- this being one of them. Granted, it is heavily cropped; but the purpose of the shoot was to inspect the sharpness the 400/2.8L IS delivers, not highlight award-winning, frame-filling composition.

A decent enough image was the result, so there you have it.

Published on Sunday, 10th August, 2014.