Just joined--mourning dove

[massimomossi]

Hello,

I have just joined the site--and am new at bird photography, although not at photography in general (I do mostly medium- and large-format wet darkroom black and white work). My background in the visual arts is largely painting and lots of drawing; I am self-taught in photography.

I thought I'd start by uploading a photo I have recently taken, and see what you think. Other than a minimum of adjustments to cropping, saturation, and contrast (using only the OlympusMaster proprietary software), I have done no other editing to it.

The camera is an Olympus sp-570uz, 10 megapixels, zoom all the way out, on the "Auto" setting. Camera firmly braced and supported; IS on. Natural light only.

I look forward to the group's responses.

Thank you,
Massimo Ossi

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Welcome to BPN, Massimo! I like the composition and subject. The little branches in the fore and background are a bit distracting, particularly the one in front of the dove and there is some fringing which is not unusual with this camera but can be fixed in ACR. A cleaner background would have helped avoiding the bright spots. Keep them coming!

[James Salywoda]

I like your pano presentation just wish the bird was more in the clear but you can't always get what you want. Nice Shot!

[massimomossi]

Thank you both for your comments--I agree with you on the branch in front of the bird; unavoidable given where she was. Can it be removed in photoshop? Also: what is ACR (sorry--am really new at this).

Massimo

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Thank you both for your comments--I agree with you on the branch in front of the bird; unavoidable given where she was. Can it be removed in photoshop? Also: what is ACR (sorry--am really new at this).

Massimo

ACR stands for Adobe Camera Raw which has a defringing tool that works really well. This program comes with Photoshop. You could clone out the branch in Photoshop with the clone tool.

The sharpness and fringing issues are due to the camera/lens used. This is less an issue with lenses made for DSLR cameras.

[Fabs Forns]

HI Massimo, red carpet welcome to BPN and I hope you can feel right at home here and that your experience can be a fruitful one.
Don'tbe shy and leave some feedback on others, you'll be surprised how much you learn judging other people's work :)

The main problems you have here are the white sky as background, seems to you were working aginst the light, and the branch in front of the bird. Rather that cloning it out, I'd wait until I see one in the clear and get used to try and get the best image in camera instead of heavily reallying on Photoshop to rescue you. Nature photography is a game of patience and waiting for the right moment to press the shutter.

Again, big welcome and keep them coming.

[massimomossi]

Hi Fabs, and thank you for the welcome.

It was a bright but completely cloudy day--hadn't thought about the sky, but you are right, it can be distracting. And thanks for confirming my gut instinct, which is to go with what's "on the film". Next time, next shot.

All best,
Massimo