Gold on Gold

[dannykillsbugs]

I took this using a tripod and a remote at about 8'.
Exposure time 1/60
ISO 200
Focal Length 300mm

I captured this in my backyard using a tripod with a remote. This is my first post and I'm hungry for knowledge as I am new to photography so don't worry about hurting my feelings with your comments.

[Ilija Dukovski]

Hi Danny and welcome, this is a great place if you are hungry for knowledge.
The learning curve here is quite steep.

I love the Head angle and eye contact that bird made with the camera.
Very nice. Also you don't get yellow on yellow that often either:). I like the bird and the plant too.
You don't have detail in the yellows and part of the white edges on the plant which means the image is probably overexposed.
You could try to recover them in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) with the recovery slide. Works like magic.
I think your bird is not perfectly in-focus. I never use remote, always grab the camera, it would be good if you tell us
what AF setting did you use. I almost always use continuous. In general it is good to tell as many settings details as possible so people can have an idea what can be changed to improve the image.
You could go with ISO400 and faster than 1/60 too. I think most cameras' noise is OK at ISO400.
Composition wise I would crop from right and put more space left, even though the plant stem must go.

I would suggest that you check the Educational Resources Forum, lot's of great stuff there. There's excellent tutorial there on yellows exposure. Also Eager to Learn Forum is great place, that's where I started.

Cheers and welcome again,

[dannykillsbugs]

Thank you! I appreciate all the info.

[Jason Franke]

I think I would crop out most of the right side of the image, maybe even tighten it down to a vertical. There's just so much empty area there that isn't really doing anything for me.

Also second the though on incraseing the ISO to get more shutter speed, the D90 should produce very usable images at ISO400 or even ISO800.

[Mark Fuge]

Agree basically with the above. Additionally, you could really use more canvas on the left and top of the image. This will draw the eye of the Goldfinch to the ROT intersection point, which would improve the image compostion.

The shaded area in the attached example is what I would suggest you remove (crop). In composing the iamge I would fill the white area, given the image you chose to shoot.

It would also be good to have the bird fill about 2/3rds of the frame if possible, keeping the ROT in mind as you compose the image.

The cropping shown would affect the quality of the image. But if you start out with the compostion filling the frame and leaving a little crop area around it, the minor adjustment will not affect the quality of the image.

Nice shot, just need some practice.

Good luck and keep shooting.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Danny and welcome. What's with you and the bugs???

I actually like the basic COMP but the yellows are burned to a crisp. Plese go to the Educational Resources Forum and read the tutorials on saving the yellows (and the whites and the reds).

[Harshad Barve]

All good points very well covred by experts
Big welcome as said above learning curve here is quite steep
TFS