This is my first post on this forum. I have been visiting for some time because I am interested in bird photography. Until the end of 2009 I didn't have the equipment to really do much. However, in late December, I bought a Canon 7D and a Sigma 150-500, so now I have two new pieces of equipment that I am learning to use.
Here is one of my better captures so far. This was hand-held.
Canon 7D, Sigma 150-500 f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM
1/800s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso1000
Please help me out by giving me ideas as to how to improve this photo. As I said, I have spent a lot of time reading this and other forums trying to learn, so any criticism is welcome!
Tim
Last edited by Tim Herbert; 02-08-2010 at 01:51 PM.
Tim, from what I have learned from reading critiques (from my own posts and others), I think you could make this a vertical crop and clone out the other branches and the OOF tree in the BG.
Hi Tim - a big warm welcome to the BPN family and nice first post.
Lots to like here - good HA and eye contact and exposure looks good - yellows might be a tad over saturated -- I am not on a colour corrected screen at present so check the histogram and see if they are.
The OOF tree in the BG is a tad distracting and could clone it out - nothing wrong with doing that, just disclose any removal work when you post the image. You could also clone the other branches out as well - and go vertical - bit of work but may be worth it.
Always best to try and get close to the final result in camera.
hi tim, welcome to BPN!! i played with your image a bit. just to show that simpler is sometimes better, i cloned out the extra branches, tried to smooth out the background a little, cropped, and desaturated the yellows. i didnt spend a lot of time on it and it could be done tons better!!!!
i'm not sure i like where the bird is in the frame on my crop. be curious to see what the others say.
Hello, Tim! Beautiful warbler you have here and I like both versions of the crop. For the original post, though, I think the comp would be stronger if you had a bit more room between the yellow bird and the yellowish tree in the BG - it would be nice to have seen a bit more blue between the two. I do like the placement of the bird in the frame and really enjoy how the branches on the left side point your eye right to him. Nice image!
Ok, I worked on the photo. I tried to clone the background, but found that it didn't look right to me, so I replaced the background with blue sky. I don't know if that is a no-no or not, so if it is, let me have it!
I cropped to the vertical with a 5x7 format, placing the bird more towards the top of the photo than Harold did.
Again, thanks to everyone for their help and patience with someone who is just learning this bird stuff!
Pine Warbler
