Here is a photo of a Tufted Titmouse. The BG is not so good as it's a fence instead of foliage. I tried blurring the BG to death but halos form around the bird so I decided to keep it as it is. The HA police might also not like the head position. :)
Anyway, C&C is very much welcome.
Tufted Titmouse(Baeolophus bicolor) L 6.5" (16 cm) Shooting Info: October 14, 2010 Canon XSi + EF-S 55-250mm f4-5.6 IS, 250mm, f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO 800, 3.1m, hand held
I think you did well, especially considering your equipment. Personally I like to set exposure for the bird, this picture looks a bit like you got your camera on the default setting of matrix metering.
you did well to get so close to the little guy and I think the head angle (and catchlight in the eye) are good.
if it's your own garden you could try and improve the background for next time. in my garden I set up the feeder and perches where I can get a good background, and sit in the same place each time.
Thanks for the comments. I'm glad you both think that I did well on the photo.
@wijnands - I usually shoot in AV with everything else in AUTO except for some instances when I experiment with ISO and exposure compensation. I still have to learn how to use metering. :)
@Geoff - this was taken from my backyard. I placed some branches near the feeder but I haven't thought about the fence. :D I will have to move my feeder near some foliage to make the background more natural and pleasing.
These little birds are QUICK, so I think you did very well in terms of sharpness - good catch! The bird looks a bit under exposed to me - I might bring up shadows a tad. But I like the shot alot - bravo!
Brian
Thanks for the comments Brian. Yeah, this bird was quick. I stood motionless near the the feeder and they will land for a split second on the branch before going to the feeder then back up the trees. Good thing, this fellow paused a little bit longer for me to take a few shots of him. :)
You did pretty well here, Eric. I agree that the fence doesn't help the image - I'm also thinking that if you decide to leave it in on other images I'd go with a deeper aperture and capture the detail in the fence so it isn't so OOF. The wood grain could be nice against the soft texture of the birds. That said, foliage would definitely be the best option!
Nice HA, good details on the bird, very nice diagonal perch. You did very well on your composition and choice of crop.
Thanks Julie. I'm thinking of trying to do major surgery on this one by changing the BG to some foliage. Don't know if I can do it but I'll try and post it here if I can make it.
Excellent update Eric, now an absolutely fantastic image.
I like the background you chose with just enough colour range to look realistic. You could probably still get away with more noise reduction on the new background too.
You're right, I totally forgot doing any NR on the BG as I was very excited trying to do the major surgery. :D
For the BG, I shot an OOF tree and used that to the replace the fence. As I have said, this is my first try in replacing a BG as I have read in other forums that doing this makes the photo more of a digital art.
Anyway, thanks again and I'm happy that you both like the revision. :)
Tufted Titmouse
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