Woodland Kingfisher

[Andre Valadao]

I quite like the lighting here. I have been doing a bit of reading of the forums here and in this one i think i got the HA right. I am so happy Jeni pointed out the HAP thread to me, HA makes such a huge difference. Unfortunatley the blacks on the tail and wing has no detail, i should have used a bit of flash. I still like the shot though. There was a bit of cloning here to get rid of some small twigs and leaves.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Andre,
You have many good things here...I like the up close capture, the head angle and eye contact are good...you have fine details on the breast portion and certain areas of the wings...you need to open up the blacks to bring out more details, its washed out...do post the EXIF data so we can better assist what you did...:cool:

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Andre

Might want to go back and check the histogram Seems its a little under exposed? btw if you get flashing highlights in the light bg areas don't be concerned.

As presented if you try getting detail in the shadows noise will be introduced and probably the blacks will take a strange appearance. Some fill flash would have help but the exp was the main thing !!! ..... btw great that you left space for the tail !!!!

[Glenn Romain]

Nice looking bird and well captured Andre :)

[Andre Valadao]

Thanks for commenting, much appreciated.

I did try up the blacks a bit, but as Alfred said the noise got a bit wierd.

EXIF :

Aperutre : F8
ISO : 200
S/Speed : 1/250
EV : 0
Focal length : 330
Matrix Metering mode
Tripod mounted

[Lance Peters]

Hi Andre - Gorgeous bird - agree with the above comments - always best to try and get your exposure as close as possilbe - use your over exposure blinkies and your istogram to confirm your exposure. When I first started out - I took many may many shots just to pracise exposure - there are a few threads in the educational rescourse forum as well.

looking forward to seeing more :)

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Nice bird and all suggestions above are great! Take them onboard mate. :) Now, if there is one thing to remember, the histogram is your best friend. The raw image may look crap, but once PP is done, you will be in reduced noise heaven. :)

[Andre Valadao]

Thanks guys, i have read the exposure article by Arthur. I normally adjust between -2/3 and +1/3. I think in this case +2/3 or even a full stop would have been the right choice. My camera has exposure bracketing, i think i will shoot that way for a while to get a better feeling about how the exposure effects the pics.

I did take a few of this guy at +1/3 and they do look a bit better, but the pose was not as good in those pics. Lesson learnt-i will focus much more on exposure now. (note to self, Use the **** histogram!!!)

Thanks again for all the help. The short time i have been here i have learnt a lot so far.