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Lorraine De Aguiar
02-04-2008, 09:24 AM
Hi, I had the opportunity to go out with the Kendall Camera Club and James Shadle as instructor to Crandon Gardens to photograph. That day my challenge was to learn proper exposure...(by the way, thank you James for answering all those questions. James, Blake and Sid... Thank You, you did a fantastic job). I think, this might have been one of the best I captured. I found that many photographs were focused on the wrong part of the bird making many out of focus. Can you tell, this one was standing still. :)

Any suggestions, more than welcome....I'm a work in progress.:D

oops.... forgot the info..
Nikon D50
ISO 400
280 mm
F7.1
1/1000

Nonda Surratt
02-04-2008, 04:36 PM
Lovely exposure!!! So what part of the bird were they focusing on? Really do like this and a nice BG complements the bird, I think maybe a bit more canvas on the right?

George DeCamp
02-04-2008, 08:54 PM
Hi Lorraine!

Well first welcome to BPN! :)

Well looks like James is a great instructor because this exposure is dead on! I love the slight shadows on the beak, it adds something to the image. Nice and sharp and really nice detail. I too would prefer a little more room on the right.

Looks like it was a successful day. You were a good student and James must have said all the right things!!

Congrats!

George

Judd Patterson
02-04-2008, 11:49 PM
Hey, welcome to BPN Lorraine! Since this was at 280mm, was it a zoom lens you were using? If so, I would have zoomed back a little bit more to give more room in front and a even behind the bird. It just needs a little more space in my opinion. I'll also also suggest that the image is a bit underexposed. If you pull this into Photoshop and use the eyedropper tool you will see that your whites are generally not close to pure white (pure white = 255,255,255; this image around = 207, 195, 165). I would personally use a Levels adjustment layer and drag the white point over to something like 215. You'll get a small area overexposed, but if you make a layer mask for your Level layer you can quickly restore a little detail. Maybe that was too much information, but just trying to assist! See you around!

Lorraine De Aguiar
02-05-2008, 09:12 AM
Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm going back to add more space now. Unfortunately Judd, I only have iphoto to work with. It only really changes the simple stuff. (exposure, contrast, highlights and so on.)

Thanks for all the advice..
Lorraine

Blake Shadle
02-06-2008, 12:22 AM
Hi, Lorraine! You're very welcome! We had an outstanding time. You did a great job capturing this Ibis. As George mentioned, you did a fine job on the exposure. This image has a very nice mood to it. I agree that this is a little tight for my taste. It's a good rule of thumb to give your subject room in the frame to "look into". Not a "rule" by any means, just a guideline ;) I also think you could add a bit of intimacy by having the Ibis facing you more. Remember that noise I was making? :) A simple squeek out of the side of your mouth will be enough to grab the Ibis' attention for a moment and allow you to fire the shutter. Keep up the good work.