A parrot I know

One of these days this parrot is going to squawk, “get the picture right already!”:

ISO 160 f/1.8 1/15 50mm

So, what I have right here is the lens.  I was using a 50mm, and given that the bird is close and has so many lovely colored feathers, I am using that lens to capture those details.

Here is what went wrong.  I was taking a picture of something else with a lot less light, just a minute before, and I forgot to change the f-stop before taking the picture.  The light in this place is crazy, but for this shot, there is no way a 1.8 is necessary or even a good thing.  So, I am letting in light I don’t need and losing depth of field which I do need.

Also, my white balance was set to florescent, but I think I will try tungsten next time, just to see if I prefer it.  It is a bit odd, because usually in this room, florescent works best.  For this parrot, I have tweaked the settings in the post editing process.

So, because I was surprised by this bird, I also didn’t think enough about framing the shot, hence the huge blown out white behind its head, which in some cases might work, but not in this one.

In writing this all out, I am hoping to take the photo differently when I get the chance.  Anything else I should consider? Thanks for reading!

Cheers!