Red-vented Bulbul

[Grant China]

Hi everybody, this is my first post to ETL so please be gentle. This was taken in my back yard, the Red-vented Bulbul being very common around here, in the mid-afternoon sun.



Canon T2i
Canon 70-300L @ 300mm
1/500
f5.6
ISO400
Almost no post-processing other than turning the exposure down slightly and about a 50% crop.

Obviously, it's a shame that I couldn't get the legs and feet in. I had another shot with a slightly better head angle but at that angle his crest was in the shade. All C&C will be gratefully accepted.

Aloha,
Grant

[Kerry Perkins]

Hello Grant, and welcome to ETL! We are all here to learn from each other, so please jump in and comment on the images that are posted by others. Tell us what you like or don't like about what you see, it's just that simple.

There are three main issues to consider with this image - pose, exposure, and composition. You have correctly identified the head angle as being an issue, but what you have really discovered is that the sun angle is critical in these situations. Since the sun was at your left, you couldn't get both head angle and lighting to be good at the same time. I always think of this situation (and it happens all the time) as being between the devil and the deep blue sea. The exposure seems too bright to me, and I know that I would be shooting this scene at a much higher shutter speed, like 1/2500. You mentioned that you lowered the exposure in post, I would suggest that you lower it in the capture. How did you meter this scene? As for composition, the negative space on the right is not contributing to the strength of the composition, and tends to pull the eye away from the bird. I would crop that space away and not be concerned about the squarish aspect ration that you will get. You are on the right track, keep posting here and check out the Avian forum as well as the educational and informational sections of the site. We look forward to seeing more of your images.

P.S. - I have been trying to get good images of the Red-whiskered Bulbul that we have here in Southern California, but they are an elusive bird and don't stay in one place very long. Don't feel bad about having a hard time capturing them with your camera!

[Grant China]

Kerry, thanks for the advice. I've never shot at 1/2500 - I'll give it a try. I haven't really learned about metering yet. Right now I just leave it in evaluative metering. I'll definitely read up on it!

PS - Red-whiskered Bulbuls aren't nearly as common around here as Red-vented Bulbuls but they're not all that hard to find either. Here's a picture I took in my front yard before I developed a serious interest in bird photography:


Aloha,
Grant

[Jeannean Ryman]

Welcome Grant! Kerry has covered the critique well, but just wanted to say I like the capture of the bird with the berries. Most of mine seem to fall into the "bird on a stick" variety. ;)

[Grant China]

Thanks Kerry for the advice. I've never shot at 1/2500 before - I'll give it a try. Right now I don't know much about metering so I just shoot in evaluative metering. I'll read up about it!

And thanks Jeanean for the encouraging words.

PS - Kerry, Red-whiskered Bulbuls are not nearly as common as Red-vented Bulbuls around here but they're exactly uncommon either. I passed a pair on my walk this morning. Here's a picture I took in my front yard quite a while back, before I had thought of getting serious about bird photography:


PPS - I hope this isn't a repost. I tried replying earlier but didn't see it show up. I assume that I did something wrong on the first post.

Aloha,
Grant

[Marina Scarr]

Welcome to BPN, Grant, and thank you so much for posting. You have a great looking bird here with some terrific behavior. I am guessing you were in a tough position as far as getting a good angle on your subject b/c of leaves etc in your way. I would really have liked to see the bird more to the right of the frame. Can't comment too much on IQ, but from my iPad, I am seeing good exposure and details in your bird.

Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

[Faraaz Abdool]

Hi Grant,

This is a great shot of red-vented bulbul showing the field mark i.e. red vent. These descriptive shots are always high ranking. You are correct about the head angle, and Kerry is also quite correct about being between the devil and the deep blue sea! Maybe what you could've done in a situation like this is move to your left, such that: 1) the sun would now be behind you and your shadow would be pointing at the bird. 2) it would be easier to get a properly exposed face (like you did here) with a perfect head angle. 3) the bird would be against that creamy green bokeh as opposed to the OOF branch.
Also, compositionally the bird seems too centred - if it were more toward the right and looking into the frame it'd make the image stronger.
However I think the bird was properly exposed - it's always better to expose to the right of the histogram and possibly turn the exposure down a little in post. You retain more detail this way, and I see you've done it correctly by protecting the leaves from being blown out.
Great shot, looking forward to seeing more from you.