canon 40D
70-300mm
1/320 sec
ISO 800
i took this in the spring, but was wondering about composition. the bird is a bit centered. also, if anyone cares to give me a hint or technique, how do i get ''just green'' background. i am used to blurring, but wonder how to get solid bg.
Hi Mike - you are improving looks fairly sharp - a litle more sharpening required maybe.
You have cut the poor fellows feet off at the bottom :) Generally need more room in front of the boird than behind (so cropping from the RHS and turning it into a vertical could be a possability) Very important not to cut parts of the bird off UNLESS you are doing in intentionally!!
The solid Background you refer to - IS DONE IN CAMERA - not a result of post processing. You need to shoot at your lowest aperture F2.8 or the likes and then position yourself (and the bird) so that you are shooting the bird against a background that when blurred because of the low aperture blends together to form a solid looking Background.
I lightened and sharpened.
:)
Well, more than one ways to get it. If the background itself is already a solid background, such as a wall with one color, then your background will be...just one big solid color. No joke. I'm serious. Another way is to - you already know that - blur the background by using large aperture. However, if the background is too close to your subject, then it could be that the aperture you selected still give you a depth of field that includes the background. As a result, you may still see some details of it (such as the texture of a wall you use a wall as the background of your photo) So, what to do, large aperture on a tele close to the subject with a far away background should help (take a look at photos with the cloudless blue sky as background).Originally Posted by mikedelaney
Last edited by Desmond Chan; 07-17-2008 at 01:44 AM.
Completely agree with the above - Lance's crop is a big improvment.
thanks you guys. i'm going to try really ultra blur of bg.
Great repost by Lance.
You are doing much better Mike, big congrats. keep them coming...:D
hey mike, check out this thread of yours from a while back and read my post. it answers your question about how to get a clean background!!
http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...ad.php?t=14384
Mike, I'm probably going to reiterate what other people have said, but you asked me about the background in the song sparrow photo. The ideal photo for a mainly solid background involves having the bird out in the open, as on a fencepost, with a fairly uniformly colored background (a dense stand of chokecherry bushes in this case, or a grassy field, for example). The more wide open the aperture, the shallower the depth of field, and if the background is far enough away from the bird, it will come out blurred as a fairly uniform color mass. This allows your shutter speed to be fast also, almost a mandate for sharp pictures with a long lens. If the backgound is too close, you'll still see individual details. Some blurring can be applied if necessary.
It's interesting to me that if you look at bird paintings, for example those shown in the Leigh Yawkey Woodson's annual Birds in Art exhibit which tours the country, a lot of the images show birds immersed in intricate habitat. An example would be a painting by John Gill showing a cerulean warbler in treetop habitat. What is acceptable and even desirable in a painting will get criticized in a photo. I personally am not put off by seeing habitat in a photograph and sometimes thinks it adds to the piece, but this is a matter of taste and I am surely in the minority here. As I said before, I have an inordinate fondness for tangled thickets. I spent large chucks of my childhood playing and hiding in them.
By the way, your photos have improved remarkably in sharpness and detail. It's nice on this piece that you got down on the bird's level. It's unfortunate tat the feet were obscured. Good work.
again, thanks to you all. you answered my big question, and while i was looking at Dave's sparrow i read something about sharpening the eye to make it appear more ''in focus''. so i got 2 great tips for today.
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