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Thread: First time for everything!

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    Default First time for everything!

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    So here goes, my first time post. I was on my way home from work the other day and decided to stop at a small pond to see if any ducks were sitting in the water. All I saw one lonely Hooded Merganser. I had hoped to get closer than the 60' to 70' that I was away but to do so would scare him. I placed my Canon 100-400 mm mark ii and my 1,4 TC on my Canon 7D ii. This photo was shot about 75' feet away handheld. He saw me and was heading to the reeds fast. 1/640, f/11, 560 mm, ISO 800. I had one shot previous to this however, I could not figure out how to download multiple images. Photographing Birds has become a passion for me. I started Photography 1 1/2 years ago at the ripe young age of 70. I read everything I can including most of Arthur Morris's books. All Critiques welcome. This image was cropped and some color adjustments in Lightroom.

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    welcome to the BPN Joseph and a nice first post! Merganser is one of my fav. birds and you git lucky to find one. the shooting angle is a bit steep here and the reflections in the water are quite distracting. A lower angle would have been better. The bird looks a tad soft to my eye with not much details.

    You have found a great site which will definitely help you improve your skills. I'm forwarding this to ETL where you will get lots of good feedback from Diane and others.

    TFS and wecome!
    New! Sony Capture One Pro Guide 2022
    https://arihazeghiphotography.com/Gu.../Sony_C1P.html


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    Welcome Joseph! A nice first post. You have come to the right place. The ETL is a place for learning. A fair swag of us seem to be in that ripe young age group!

    I am here in the ETL for a reason, so take everything say with a grain of salt! You have some good equipment there and your techs looked good. Although I may consider a wider f stop for this image. There is so much to learn from an image like this. I believe it is quite "artsy"with all those reed reflections.

    I think you need a bit more space behind the bird and much less below and in front. Generally, the "rule" is; let the bird (person, dog, car) have more room in front so he can move into the frame. A little less room behind and top and bottom edges is probably mostly as you feel how it should be to make the best from your image. Study the posts in "Avian" or even here and you can easily detect what makes a good image. Can you tell us what size crop, or post like others in the forum with the crop showing. It's easy then to see if something better can be considered. Try to focus on the birds eye and let the DoF fall where it will. (Diane's words) A bird swimming toward or parallel to you is mostly better than one swimming away.

    You learn a lot by looking at someones post and deciding yourself what looks good to you, or things you may consider changing.

    Don't be shy at asking questions or at giving others critique.
    Last edited by Glennie Passier; 02-22-2016 at 03:24 PM.

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    Hi Glennie,
    The information you have provided is so valuable to me. I have written your points down and will read them over and over until they are ingrained in my head.
    Thank you so much. I was nervous as **** when posting.
    Best regards,
    Joseph

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    Hi Ari,
    You are correct about the angle, I was on a viewing platform and the access was a locked gate. Usually it is open which would have given me a low angle and I would have been able to get a lot closer for a better shot. Thank you for your valued input. I must say the images you have on your website are Stellar!!! Amazing BIF!!!
    Best regards,

    Joseph.

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    Hi Joseph and welcome to ETL! Arash and my chief assistant Glennie have made excellent points!

    Keep trying and you'll master this. The two main things that strike me are the bird's position in the frame -- as Glennie said, too crowded against the left edge. And also looking at the ripples, a considerable CCW rotation is needed to level the "horizon." That's something we need to learn to see through the viewfinder, and is an acquired skill, along with managing where the focus point is. And of course getting closer is always best, but not always possible. When you know you'll need to crop, learn to pre-visualize the framing you'll need for the crop in terms of keeping a focus point on the subject.

    There have been some very good discussions here in the last few weeks -- I'd recommend as many threads as you can wade through.

    Looking forward to seeing your progress!

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    Well done, joseph. That looks like a real duck in a real pond. You were well advised to focus on the eye.
    I like this shot -- it tells birders something about Hooded Mergansers.

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    Thank you Jessie, I do have much to learn and I appreciate the encouragement.

    Regards,

    Joseph.

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    Thank you Diane, this is a great place for learning.

    Regards, Joseph

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    Glad to have you here!

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