King parrot

[Casey Argall]

Hi, I took this while out on my verandah waiting for some birds to come by, to the side of my verandah is a tree that they like to go on and so i usually wait watching it. This was taken just before i was going to give up and go inside because i wasn't having much luck but then several king parrots flew down and i was able to get some photos. Settings etc: 5d mark II, focal length=300, f/5.6, shutter=1/125
/]http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3695/12466502604_e920459370_o.jpg

[Diane Miller]

I'd love for one of these guys to come by and pose for me!

I think it would be a stronger image if you could include the whole bird. The OOF partner is a good idea but one I'm rarely able to pull off -- there is just not enough depth of field to make a second one look good, to me, anyway. A little more depth of field might have worked well -- the feathers look sharp but the face seems to be soft, especially the beak, maybe some movement there, too. That's a marginal shutter speed if there is the slightest movement. Getting a bird in good light really pays off -- too many compromises if in the shade.

It helps critique to give full information, including processing. What was the ISO? Is this the 300mm f/5.6 lens? Is it RAW and how processed? If in LR or ACR, the default Camera Calibration of Adobe Std usually blows out deiial in reds -- try some of the other choices.

Look forward to seeing more from you!

[Randall Farhy]

Casey, for a 300mm shot at 1/125-this is sharper than I would've expected, even with a tripod. This tells me you have good technique. Exposure looks ok, the BG is a tad bright relative to subject, was flash used? As Diane mentioned- more info will help us on the technical side. Keep em coming!

[Iain Barker]

Hi Casey

This is a beautiful bird. You have captured the colours and detail in the feathers well. I agree with the other critique so far. I think that if you are going for a portrait of the bird the crop need to be even tighter otherwise it would be better to see more of the bird.
It look like you used flash. I'm no expert on that but is would say the power was slightly high and a lower setting would have made the light more natural.

Keep the shots coming.
Cheers
Iain

[Casey Argall]

Thanks everyone for the comments, i will keep these in mind and keep trying. Sharpness is a big thing for me because i have really shakey hands...which is why i got the IS lens but also birds don't stay still even when you ask them nicely hehe. To answer in more detail: Other settings were flash in e-ttl, lens was EF 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM set at 300mm, ISO 400 because it was shade and i was having difficulty getting enough light, evaluative metering, set to manual mode, one shot AF. Software was the software that comes with canon...i have photoshop cc now though so i could look back over it....i can't remember what i did but i usually take the sharpening up on the raw tab a few notches, and the exposure up a little because my photos are always too dark.

[Casey Argall]

oh and i shoot in raw, and i converted it with the Canon software.

[Diane Miller]

Underexposing is a really bad thing to do -- bring it up gives noise under the best conditions. Expose to the right in camera as much as possible without blowing out highlights. Bringing it down increases quality. Going the other way degrades it.

Caution about sharpening -- it is a pipe dream, unless you use *extremely* sophisticated software. Noise reduction is a little more accessible to us ordinary folks, but can carry huge penalties if overdone. And noise reduction and sharpening mostly just cancel one another out.

If you have shaky hands, forget hand holding, even with IS and get a good tripod and learn the best techniques. The more telephoto you go the faster shutter speed you need -- almost exponentially.

[Randall Farhy]

Diane is correct, under-exposing can really bring out the noise in shadow areas and doesn't help the mid tones. The only times to deliberately under expose are for primarily white subjects, even then you should still be a little to the left if that makes sense. Shooting Canon- the meter's tend to under-expose on the crop sensors by about 1/3 stop (at least the ones I have used; 7D, 60D and an old Rebel XSI) perhaps it's the same for the 5DII? The other variable is the lens-it's not a fixed aperture, if you meter on one end and then alter the zoom, you could introduce flawed settings.

[Casey Argall]

Hi, i don't underexpose on purpose, it just happens to me a lot. I think it doesn't help that when i photograph the birds they are under shade so it tends to need more light...that's why i started using flash but this doesn't help much because the bird will be well exposed but the background dark. Sorry but i'm still learning so i will make many mistakes.

[Diane Miller]

Flash is tricky -- can give very flat light unless it's off-camera, and needs to be balanced with enough ambient exposure to show some detail in the background. If the subject will sit still, shoot a test shot and check the histogram and adjust things. With some experience it will get a lot easier.

We're all still learning -- we just slowly get to the point of making more advanced mistakes. Hang in there!!