I Need a Critique

This photo of a black bear was taken with a 7D and Sigma 50-500 lens. The focal length was 500 MM and camera settings were 1/320 @ F/5.6 with ISO @ 400. Any suggestions on how to improve the image quality? In the original image when viewing at 75% and up it is soft and noisy.

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Is it cool if I take a shot at it?

part of your problem is focal length (500) is exceeding 1/shutter speed (320). This can make your photo more prone to the effects of motion while capturing the image. At that focal length you should have tried to be at least 1/500 or faster on the shutter speed. Not doing so can lead to soft/blurry shots.

holy cow! I would of been running in the other direction! great shot...
As far as technically... i agree with the above...

The post above is correct. Rule of thumb, don't let your focal length exceed your shutter speed. shooting at 500mm, get your shutter speed at 1/500 or faster. In this case opening up the aperture is OK, you're focusing on the bear's face.

Increase contrast a bit and black point.
That lens likes tripods, lots of light and f8...you probably already knew that.

NeutronBoy wrote in post #12590223
part of your problem is focal length (500) is exceeding 1/shutter speed (320). This can make your photo more prone to the effects of motion while capturing the image. At that focal length you should have tried to be at least 1/500 or faster on the shutter speed. Not doing so can lead to soft/blurry shots.

Thank you for the information, I thought because it was on a tripod the slower shutter would be fine. It makes total sense!

Shockey wrote in post #12591235
Increase contrast a bit and black point.
That lens likes tripods, lots of light and f8...you probably already knew that.

I did not know this, if you have any other suggestions I would love to here them. Thank you!

Tneuville wrote in post #12590318
holy cow! I would of been running in the other direction! great shot...
As far as technically... i agree with the above...

It was in a cow pasture and by the size probably ate a few of em! Thank you for the info and humor!

Shockey wrote in post #12591235
Increase contrast a bit and black point.
That lens likes tripods, lots of light and f8...you probably already knew that.

Shockey, can you explain something to me, if the lens likes f8, would I be better off to set it on aperture priority and leave it while shooting at 500mm? It would force me to increase the ISO which is more noise. Would it help the softness?

sierrarisse wrote in post #12595072
Shockey, can you explain something to me, if the lens likes f8, would I be better off to set it on aperture priority and leave it while shooting at 500mm? It would force me to increase the ISO which is more noise. Would it help the softness?

To be honest the camera that your using should be capable of kicking out good usable images at iso 1600 and some at 3200 if you expose them well enough, i've even had and seen other's produce nice shots at 6400, so don't be affraid of bumping the iso up, with iso numbers like this you could quite easily set your f stop to f/8 , but if you feel more comfortable av mode put it in av mode , after all thats why the camera has it

The image looks acceptably sharp to me - no obvious camera shake - so it looks like the tripod did the trick. Hand held rule is fine - 1/focal length - but it is a suggestion. If you can hold it steady at less than that go for it. Just know your limitations.

Being able to maintain composure with a bear coming at you would add a bit of adrenalin to my system so I think you did quite well here.

Yes when I am using mine I leave it on f8, since for me no other aperture yields acceptable results.
If you are bumping your iso to shoot there, make sure you take nice bright exposures so you don't have to increase exposure in edit which creates a lot of noise.

Since the image is acceptably sharp at normal viewing distance, who cares if looks blurry at 75 and 100%. Most images look like crap zoomed in that much.

Shockey wrote in post #12597425
Yes when I am using mine I leave it on f8, since for me no other aperture yields acceptable results.
If you are bumping your iso to shoot there, make sure you take nice bright exposures so you don't have to increase exposure in edit which creates a lot of noise.

Since the image is acceptably sharp at normal viewing distance, who cares if looks blurry at 75 and 100%. Most images look like crap zoomed in that much.

Thank you all for the excellent tips, I'm looking forward to trying them out this weekend!

Shockey wrote in post #12597425
Yes when I am using mine I leave it on f8, since for me no other aperture yields acceptable results.
If you are bumping your iso to shoot there, make sure you take nice bright exposures so you don't have to increase exposure in edit which creates a lot of noise.

Since the image is acceptably sharp at normal viewing distance, who cares if looks blurry at 75 and 100%. Most images look like crap zoomed in that much.

Shockey, Thank you again for the f8 tip. The picture in the following link is f8, 2000 iso and is great!

http://naturetrailphot​o.com/p733615060/ebe58​5e2