[gebco]

This is my first request for critique. Some info about me:

- so far, I only shoot JPEG, and do little if no PP
- I am looking for the best ways to set up the camera according to different situations so PP is minimized aferwards.
- I really only use the camera for family pics, but I enjoy experimenting and seeng what I can do with it, thus these pics.

These pics are on Photobucket, which seems to reduce sharpening a little.

First this one: this was partially backlit. I adjusted ev to +0.7 to get face detail, but there is none and the water is starting to get blown out


Next, the gulls. -0.3 ev, but some white is still blown out


Now, a BIF, it is not quite as sharp as I would like, I think I was panning too quickly


Composition on the next two: I probably should have watched for the reflections in the water and had them in the frame:



Crops of the previous two, any thoughts?



Overall, I am looking for critque on composition and exposure. I know I am looking for a lot of feedback here, I really appreciate how much several members spend time helping others.

[jct us101]

I think the one with the reflection of the goose looks the best, although I wish that I could have seen a little bit more of the reflection. I don't think there's anything wrong with your exposure on most of these, sometimes the water is just not easy to photograph when the sun is shining on it, just don't take photos of ducks when they're in the path of the sunlight, that's what I do. I think that your composition is Ok, maybe a little bit boring in some ways, but like I said, these are ducks, and there's not anything terribly exciting that you can do with them. Maybe try some other types of birds and post some photos of them on here.

[gebco]

I think the one with the reflection of the goose looks the best, although I wish that I could have seen a little bit more of the reflection.
. . .

I think that your composition is Ok, maybe a little bit boring in some ways, but like I said, these are ducks, and there's not anything terribly exciting that you can do with them. Maybe try some other types of birds and post some photos of them on here.

Thank you for the feedback. Yes, I realized afterward that I should have had the reflections of the birds in the frame.
These pics were taken in the name of experimentation. I will probably only keep them as references for the settings I used.

[Tuner571]

First off you have a wonderful collection of bird shots, I really like the colors in some of them but there is still some advice that I can give to make your photos better.

Firstly, on your first shot it doesn’t look that sharp at all. There seems to be some detail loose in the feathers and the face is very difficult to see as well. To fix this try bumping up the aperture to f/9 or something close to that. If this results in a slower shutter speed try bumping up the ISO until you can get a decent shutter speed for the photo at hand. Another piece of advice is to shoot with the sun at your back. Your cameras sensor does not have the dynamic range like our eyes do. This is why on your first shot the goose is very dark and the water reflecting the sun is very bright and nearly blown out.

Secondly, on your second shot the colors and contrast look very good. However, the gulls are just far too small in the photo and your eyes are not really drawn to them. For this photo I would suggest a tighter crop to better frame the gulls or maybe you could get a longer lens for bird shots since you really seem to enjoy taking photos of birds.

On the third one you are right that the shot looks a little on the soft side. That could be cleared up with a faster shutter speed or maybe your focus point was wrong, I’m not really sure. One thing that I did notice is that you seem to have some dust on your sensor. If you look right near the beak will you see a small black dot; this is dust and it should be removed if you use your cameras dust removal system.

On the next one I would say again that you need more zoom to better frame the goose. If you where more zoomed in I believe the photo would look much better and professional. I also noticed that you only shoot JPEG; if you want to get the most out of your camera I would switch over to RAW. This would give you so much more flexibility when you would want to edit your photos. Also why would you buy a great DSLR only to shoot in a file type that all point and shoots use? Other than those things I really l like the rest of your photos and I look forward in seeing what you post in the future.

[gebco]

Thank you Tuner.

[gebco]

This is a capture from today, cropped from the orginal:

[Tuner571]

That is a really a beautiful capture, I like that you were able to capture the moment that he was landing. One thing I would change would be to crop it differently so that the duck is not in the center of the image. Other then that I really like it and thanks for sharing this great photo.

Cory

[quiksilver]

I really like the 5th image and the one landing in the lake. Captured the colours and the duck amazingly. I agree with the crop, a little to the right or left to get the full effect of the landing in motion. Great job non the less. I like.

[gebco]

Thanks for the responses.
My posted pics always seem softer when I post them here than the original. Not sure why. . .

[wildman]

First:

Pay more attention to the background. You are concentrating too much on subject. The subject is only half of the image the other half is the background and that, to a great extent, defines the subject. As it is your backgrounds adds little or distracts from the over-all image.

Pay more attention to lighting. Backlighting, especially on a bright sunny day, kills shadow detail and makes things look muddy.

The best lighting is not a bright sunny day. shot with some over-cast and you will get a much greater apparent dynamic range with better detail in shadow and plumage. Underexpose a bit and bring the shadow up in PP.

[gebco]

First:

Pay more attention to the background. You are concentrating too much on subject. The subject is only half of the image the other half is the background and that, to a great extent, defines the subject. As it is your backgrounds adds little or distracts from the over-all image.

Pay more attention to lighting. Backlighting, especially on a bright sunny day, kills shadow detail and makes things look muddy.

The best lighting is not a bright sunny day. shot with some over-cast and you will get a much greater apparent dynamic range with better detail in shadow and plumage. Underexpose a bit and bring the shadow up in PP.

Thanks for the feedback.

Background: what about the crops? Basically it is water behind the subject. Could I have cropped differently?

Backlighting: yes, I posted the pic of the goose in back lighting to see if there was a way of getting bette exposure. Should I have overexposed more?

Sunny day: interesting. I actually set it to +0.7 ev to compensate for the water. Are you saying the detail may have come out better if I had set it to 0.0 ev and brought it up in PP? I am actually pleased with the colours in # 4 and 5 and the crops, so if I could have improved the colour and detail even more, that would be great!

[wildman]

Thanks for the feedback.

Background: what about the crops? Basically it is water behind the subject. Could I have cropped differently?

Backlighting: yes, I posted the pic of the goose in back lighting to see if there was a way of getting bette exposure. Should I have overexposed more?

Sunny day: interesting. I actually set it to +0.7 ev to compensate for the water. Are you saying the detail may have come out better if I had set it to 0.0 ev and brought it up in PP? I am actually pleased with the colours in # 4 and 5 and the crops, so if I could have improved the colour and detail even more, that would be great!

First of all I would suggest you work on exposure:

1. Cut back on contrast - set this using "Fn" button on camera. More contrast=less DR as a rule.

2. Don't over saturate.

3. 1and 2 above - in other words get the camera out of "flame" mode and set it for more realistic natural color.

4. Avoid direct sunlight if possible.

5. Avoid back lighting unless you have some particular creative purpose for it.

6. Always, generally, underexpose a bit. If you overexpose and blow the highlights they are gone forever. If you underexpose detail in the shadows can usually be recovered in PP.

Pics.
1. My idea of "good" color and exposure.
2 and 3 - your pics with some PP.

[gebco]

I will adjust settings and try another time when time permits and post the results here.