What did I do wrong?

[ARIJIT BANERJEE]

Hello,
I am new to digital, very new to DSLR and an absolute greenhorn.

I took this image of a Lesser Whistling Duck In Santragachi, near Kolkata. The time was late afternoon, it was overcast and very dusty.

Could the image have been sharper? Where all did I err?

I would appreciate if expert moderators kindly advise.

http://i842.photobucket.com/albums/zz341/arijit_2001/TEALS%20DEC%2009/SG2.jpg

Pentax Kx
ExposureTime : 1/200Sec
FNumber : F5.8
ExposureProgram : Aperture Priority
ISOSpeedRatings : 400
ExifVersion : 0221
DateTimeOriginal : 2009:12:10 16:02:18
DateTimeDigitized : 2009:12:10 16:02:18
ComponentConfiguration : YCbCr
ExposureBiasValue : EV0.0
MeteringMode : Division
Flash : Not fired(Compulsory)
FocalLength : 300.00(mm)
FlashPixVersion : 0100
ColorSpace : sRGB
ExifImageWidth : 4288
ExifImageHeight : 2848
SensingMethod : OneChipColorArea sensor
CustomRendered : Normal process
ExposureMode : Auto
WhiteBalance : Auto
FocalLength(35mm) : 450(mm)
SceneCaptureType : Standard
Contrast : Normal
Saturation : Normal
Sharpness : Normal
SubjectDistanceRange : Distant view

[Randy Stout]

Arijit:

Welcome to BPN! It is a great place to learn.

An attractive pair of ducks, with good reflections because the water was still. The rear bird would have looked better if the head was turned towards us a bit. You will see 'head angle' mentioned a lot on this site.

The ducks do appear soft (not in critically sharp focus). I noted your shutter speed, which for moving subjects generally isn't enough. Even with a tripod, your yield of sharp images at this shutter speed on moving subjects will be low. I would have suggested a higher ISO setting, to give yourself some flexibility about shutter speed.

The image appears a bit dim, and I would try a version that is a bit lighter. I would also consider a minor crop up from the bottom. All the empty space there doesn't add much. I would also consider cleaning up some of the debris in the water in post processing.

Keep studying the images on the site, post more, you will get better quickly.

Again, welcome to BPN!

Randy

[susanschermer]

Welcome Arijit. These are very lovely ducks in some very poor light. The gray sky makes the water look gray and unflattering to the subject. As Randy mentioned the ducks are not sharp.

The shutter speed of 1/200 at ISO 400 will not yield a sharp image as Randy mentioned, but even if you upped the ISO to 1000 you still would need a tripod to get a sharp image at the resultant shutter speed. The only way to acheive a good image out of this would have been a very tight shot with a flash, and probably a flash extender to reach the subject.

I don't know how much you cropped this image, but to really make it right it would need much more cropping. Keep shooting and posting. It will help you a lot.

[Randy Stout]

Arijit:

I had a minute, so did a few tweaks. In the future, try to post as close to the 200Kb file size max as possible, it gives folks more data to work with (this one was 88K)

1)increased exposure
2)removed a green color cast
3)sharpened the birds selectively( the image didn't accept sharpening gracefully, as it now is showing sharpening artifacts, but I think it is somewhat better for web presentation now)
4)cropped

The data just isn't there to give a good result, but I think it gives a little bit of flavor about what you can do to an image to improve it.

There are many really fine photoshop folks on this site, you will be able to learn a lot about post processing, as well as capture side. Always best to get it as good as you can in the camera to start with!

Randy

[Tony Whitehead]

Welcome, Arijit. Good advice from Randy and Susan above. I am interested to know if this is a cropped image as a big crop would explain some of the softness. In a bright scene like this (lot of light reflecting from the water) the camera will tend to underexpose so some Plus exposure compensation would be good at capture time to maximise image quality. In this situation this would have forced an even lower shutter speed so pushing the ISO up would have been crucial. Using your histogram to check exposure is a good idea in the field and you want it to be as far to the right as possible without clipping. These look like really beautiful ducks. Looking forward to more of your images.

[ARIJIT BANERJEE]

Mr. Stout, Ms. Schermer, Mr. Whitehead,

Thank you very much indeed for your comments. I now have started to understand the need for adequate light and a stable platform (tripod). Yes, this image was shot in RAW and then converted to jpg via Pentax DCU 4.0 and then touched up in Photoshop elements 2.0. I had to go for a complicated workflow as I had not yet laid my hands on PSLR -3 beta.
The image was cropped too.

Is there a way I can send the raw file please and wait for your comments?

regrads,

Arijit