Good that you are enjoying the new experience. Exposure and detail looks to be handled well, surroundings and bg is a bit busy.
ps. this should be moved to avian
Todd
Sorry about getting this in the wrong heading........I don't know how to move or delete said post.
What would you recommend for the background? My lowest f-stop on this lens is 5.8 at 300mm so blurring the BG was not an option.
Does the background make it a bad photo? How does one choose the proper background for an image such as this? Should the photo not be taken or does it just qualify as a snapshot?
based on what I see in the BG there was not alot to work with there, a few steps to either side dont look like there would be a big improvement, its just busy
the two branches coming out of its back, and then the leaf beside it and the leaf by its beak are very distracting for me
sometimes its not even worth taking a pic, I would say most would consider this a snapshot
it can be frustrating hearing these things but stick around and look and you will quickly see your images improving
background is very key, and of course since its wildlife quite often you have no control, I have a red tail hawk coming to my yard and as of yet I have not once taken a shot because there are trees / branches galore to just ruin the picture :(
try to get more distance between the bird / background so its blurred out more
if your interested in birds there is a worskshop in Howell MI next weekend that you may want to checkout, I have been to a few and they are very much worth the money and you have a controlled environment to work with http://www.howellnaturecenter.org/an...lifephotos.htm
if you have any questions on it just shoot me a PM, I have not signed up yet but I think I will be going