Southern Lapwing

[Ivan Leste]

I'm trying to learn so all critiques are welcome.
Canon XTi - Canon 75-300mm III USM - ISO 400 - 1/4000 - 5.6 - AI Servo AF

[LeeOtsubo]

Hi Ivan,
It's a beautiful bird and a great pose but the setting leaves a lot to be desired. First and foremost, I would have gotten as low as possible, on your belly if necessary.

From your Exif, I see that you were at f/5.6, 1/4000" and ISO 400 at 290mm. Assuming the bird was about 20' from you, you had about 2.5" DOF. From examining the grass, it looks as if you were focused a bit behind the bird. That's why the eye is out of focus. You had plenty of light to set the ISO to 100 or aperture to f/8 and still have the shutter speed at 1/2000" or 1/1000". That would have given you deeper DOF to cover focus issues. Better yet, next time, focus on the eye and recompose. Your Canon came with SW that can show you which focus point was active at the time you released the shutter.

The white underbelly is blown out so I would have dialed in about -2/3 EC. Did you check your histogram after the shot? That's one of the most valuable tools on your camera.

Finally, when you get the shot right, I'd crop a little tighter on the right side. That's a lot of empty space. You can also clone out the extraneous leaves to the front and left side. HTH

[Alfred Forns]

Big Welcome Ivan !!!!!! Great first post

Great critique Lee Agree with your assessment very well covered I van can add for you to look at your bg when setting for an image Here you have a strong shadow right at the birds head Moving down as suggested would have eliminated Shooting from your vantage point moving right might have given you a better separation

Also as pointed out be accurate in the point of focus You can focus on the eye hold focus and recompose (using one shot) Looking forward to seeing more !!!

[Adams Serra]

Hi Ivan,

Are you Brazilian?

[Judd Patterson]

Ivan, what a bird! A real beauty that could be helped with a sharper image and perhaps a bit more habitat other than the grass lawn. You probably need to learn to be more comfortable with AI Servo so you can keep the center focus point on the bird and avoid situations like this where the background is sharper than the subject. I look forward to seeing more of your work around here.

[Ivan Leste]

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Thanks for the feedback, I know I need to be more patient and more careful when approaching the birds so I can take my time with each picture, checking the histogram and make the necessary corrections, but sometimes (well, almost ever) I’m so thrilled that I forget everything and just try to get closer and closer.<o:p></o:p>
It’s great to have knowledgeable photographers like you to point the contributor’s mistakes, they became so obvious after that. I will try to follow your advices next time on the field.<o:p></o:p>

[Ivan Leste]

Hi Alfred,
Thanks for your words, as I said to Lee, besides other corrections, I have to be more careful and look for better angles. Auto focus is completely new to me, I started making nature and wildlife pictures in the 70’s with an Exa II (maybe you don’t remember that), then with a Ricoh TLS 401 with a Praktica as a second body and finally went to a Nikon with a Tamron 500mm mirror lens in the 80’s. After a 25 years break I’m returning to photography and it’s a completely new (and wonderful) world, but you have to learn everything again but I’m loving doing it.

[Ivan Leste]

Hi Adams,
Yes, I’m from Belo Horizonte, capital of the state of Minas Gerais. Have you been here in Brazil?

[Ivan Leste]

Hi Judd,
I will try to return with better photos, thank you for the encouragement.