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Joseph Bovaird wrote:
I think I'm having a tendency to overbake stuff
Admitting you have a problem is always the first step ...
Overall, no real complaints that you haven't already mention ... and those seem rather benign, since you nailed the eyes fairly well.
The eyes are of course set back in a further distant focal plane than the nose/whiskers. Likely better to have the eyes / miss the nose than the other way around. The forehead fur being in a plane closer to the eyes are plenty sharp ... potentially too sharp. If you tone down the fur a touch, it'll draw to the eyes more, and reduce the diff @ the nose somewhat to a less stark diff.
Don't know if your camera/software can show your point of focus, but I suspect it might be just forward of the eyes @ bridge/forehead with just enough DOF to get the eyes. Sharpness is a relative thing. While we can't always successfully increase sharpness, we can reduce some areas (judiciously) to optimize/shift that which we have to work with for a slight change in DOF / focal plane perception.
One thing I might add ... I'm a LOW ISO junkie from the land of dinosaurs ... but today's photography suffers little penalty from using higher than ISO 100. A bump to 200 would give you another stop for your DOF. Also, last I used Nikon gear, ISO 200 was their base ISO and 100 is just an artificial exposure compensation, so there is little reason to shoot lower than base, unless you need if for producing specific shutter/aperture combinations. (Canon does a similar @ base 100 with 50, as does my Kodak & Panny from base 160/lower and 125/lower respectively.)
Even if you go upwards to 400 & 800, if you have good light, the ISO boost trade-offs can be nominal or negligible in many instances. Old school @ film and early digital, that wasn't the case @ you paid for each stop dearly ... but now you can pick up 1, 2 or even 3 stops (sufficient light) of shutter/aperture. Meaning that if you've got enough light to shoot it @ ISO 100, you're likely gonna be just fine @ 200 or more. Once I realized that there was "no significant gain" in IQ by shooting below base ISO (a few test shots to verify), even this low ISO junkie went back to shooting base without worry.
That all being said ... some of Bob's stuff (diff camera I realize) @ 3200 is testament to how far things have come as long as you have good light to work with.
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