All comments appreciated

[Dave Weller]

All comments appreciated, I am trying to improve my technique etc.
Shot taken with my XSi with Sigma 150-500 EXIF intact.
Cropped, and a little sharpening of the photo.

[William Malacarne]

I'll put it here as not everyone can read it with their browsers.

Camera Model: Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XSi
Image Date: 2010:03:18 19:45:36
Focal Length: 500.0mm
Aperture: f/9.0
Exposure Time: 0.0080 s (1/125)
ISO equiv: 800
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Auto
Color Space: sRGB

Bill

[Dave Weller]

I'll put it here as not everyone can read it with their browsers.

Thanks, I assumed wrongly that most would be able to read it.

[Randy Stout]

Dave:

Several things to think about.

1) The sun angle was well off to your right, causing some uneven exposure on the bird.
2) The breast and some of the foliage is overexposed ( you can't see any detail in those areas)
3) The head is turned a bit away
4) You are shooting down on the bird a bit
5) The background is somewhat busy, distracting from the main subject
6) The composition would be stronger if the bird was more to the left in the frame

I think the perch itself is nice, with interest, and the right scale for this bird.

Dave, it sounds like a lot of things to worry about. You have done the most important parts, you are taking the pictures, and trying to get better. BPN is a great site to learn. Keep posting images, but equally important is to look at others images, read the comments, make your own comments. You will progress by leaps and bounds!

Randy

[Dave Weller]

Dave:

Several things to think about.

1) The sun angle was well off to your right, causing some uneven exposure on the bird.
2) The breast and some of the foliage is overexposed ( you can't see any detail in those areas)
3) The head is turned a bit away
4) You are shooting down on the bird a bit
5) The background is somewhat busy, distracting from the main subject
6) The composition would be stronger if the bird was more to the left in the frame

I think the perch itself is nice, with interest, and the right scale for this bird.

Dave, it sounds like a lot of things to worry about. You have done the most important parts, you are taking the pictures, and trying to get better. BPN is a great site to learn. Keep posting images, but equally important is to look at others images, read the comments, make your own comments. You will progress by leaps and bounds!

Randy

Thanks for these comments and I agree with everything you say, the shot was taken in Mexico (there isn't to many birds around here this time of the year) and many of my shots I had to battle against the sun and haven't yet figured out how to get the best of it yet. I did get one other shot of this bird and it does appear a little better. My concerns with this one, is the very busy background and not really very sharp, sharpening in Paint Shop Pro Photo didn't appear to help it any.

[Alfred Forns]

Great points by Randy, agree with all !! ... thanks Bill for the tech settings, they do help !!

Noticed the compensation was zero !! Always check histogram form blinkies, should have had some on this one and a little negative compensation would have taken care !! ... btw these little guys are the hardest to capture, they give me a headache !! .. look for bigger birds :)

[Desmond Chan]

I think the shutter speed could be faster. Not sure why you have chosen to have the bird on the right side of the frame. Sometimes one simple thing to do to improve a picture is to get low, bend your legs, lower your tripod, etc., etc.

[Dave Weller]

Great points by Randy, agree with all !! ... thanks Bill for the tech settings, they do help !!

Noticed the compensation was zero !! Always check histogram form blinkies, should have had some on this one and a little negative compensation would have taken care !! ... btw these little guys are the hardest to capture, they give me a headache !! .. look for bigger birds :)

As it stands now, I haven't tried compensting exposure, it is probably something I should experiment with.

[Lance Peters]

hi Dave - IMHO - you need to get your exposure/exposure compensation understood as the first step, when I first started out I took my camera everywhere with me and shot everything - just so I could practice exposure in different circumstances.
Not that difficult once you understand the basics.
Its all about LIGHT!!

[Dave Weller]

I think the shutter speed could be faster. Not sure why you have chosen to have the bird on the right side of the frame. Sometimes one simple thing to do to improve a picture is to get low, bend your legs, lower your tripod, etc., etc.

To be honest I do not know why I placed it on the right, There was obstructions between the bird and myself that didn't allow me to get lower. BTW it was a hand held shot. I will try to pay more attention to the shutter speed, some of the pictures that day did have low shutter speeds, I guess I got to learn from that, I had the aperture a little higher to increase the depth of field a little, guess that backfired on me.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Dave Might want to look for Arties Digital Basics or his new book Lots of info there !! Looking through the archives right here will find tons of info, just read and try then ask here for extra help !!

The compensation is the key to making a good exposure, you need to tell the camera what to do, in all the posts you will see - 1/3, -1 or + 2/3 etc !!

[Dave Weller]

Is that book, a PDF download by Arthur Morris? https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/ca....aspx?catid=30

Right now I am trying to wrap my head around some of the suggestions and how to accomplish them. Thanks to all, there are some good suggestion on how I can improve my shots, if this thread is an example of the typical responses I will be around this forum for a long time.

[Arthur Morris]

Dave, You need to get a copy of ABP II (916 pages on CD only) and study it :) You can find the info here: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=19