First post at BPN

[Gary Thompson]

I stumbled across this site by accident, and have been lurking for a few weeks now. I've seen a lot of help and suggestions being offered here, and it seems like a good place to learn something and improve my shooting and processing skills. So with that in mind, I post my first shot. A tree swallow taken last week. I hope I do this correctly and include all the pertinent data. If not let me know.

Camera Canon EOS 7D
Lens EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture f/10.0
Focal Length 700 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Mode Manual
Metering Mode Spot
White Balance Auto

Adjusted lighting in ACR. CS4, adjusted curves, saturation, sharpen subject, noise reduction on background, minor crop for composition only.

Comments for improvements welcome.




Gary

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Gary,

Greetings. Welcome to BPN. A very dramatic shot, great detail and color. Only would wish for the sun angle to be a bit lower to light up the face (but might have lost the radiant back). Look forward to seeing more from you.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[John Chardine]

Hi Gary- I echo Michael's greetings to BPN. It's great that you found the site.

You are off to a really good start here. You have great detail in the image- the blood vessels in the mouth are great as is the feather detail. Love the mouth open and the perch too. Agree that the bright, high sun was working against you. You may want to try dodging the face to lighten a little. It would be optimal to have a slightly higher camera angle so that you are more or less level with the eye.

Look forward to seeing more!

[Allen Hirsch]

Welcome to BPN, Gary.

Great detail on the swallow, as others have noted.

Were you close enough to need f10 for depth of field? (Not that it mattered much, since you have a "clean" BG anyway, without distractions.)

[Kerry Perkins]

Hello Gary and welcome to BPN! We are happy to see you here and hope you continue to post your images. Please jump in and comment on other images that you see posted here, we are all learning from each other and all opinions are appreciated.

Nice first post here, lots to like! Nice composition, detail, and color rendition. As mentioned above, the shooting angle could be better but the calling pose and full profile make for a strong image. Keep them coming, we never close!

[Gary Thompson]

Gary,

Greetings. Welcome to BPN. A very dramatic shot, great detail and color. Only would wish for the sun angle to be a bit lower to light up the face (but might have lost the radiant back). Look forward to seeing more from you.

Cheers,

-Michael-

Thanks Michael for the warm welcome. Agreed about the light, but unfortunately I have to shoot when I can, and it doesn't often include the best light of the day. I just try to make the best with what I have to work with.

Hi Gary- I echo Michael's greetings to BPN. It's great that you found the site.

You are off to a really good start here. You have great detail in the image- the blood vessels in the mouth are great as is the feather detail. Love the mouth open and the perch too. Agree that the bright, high sun was working against you. You may want to try dodging the face to lighten a little. It would be optimal to have a slightly higher camera angle so that you are more or less level with the eye.

Look forward to seeing more!

Thanks John for the comment and suggestion. I will give it a try and see how it looks. Not a lot I could do about the angle, unforturnately. Understood about being level with the eye.

Welcome to BPN, Gary.

Great detail on the swallow, as others have noted.

Were you close enough to need f10 for depth of field? (Not that it mattered much, since you have a "clean" BG anyway, without distractions.)

I was fairly close Allen. Probably didn't need it, but I've lost too many shots with tails that are OOF for not having enough DOF. Just wanted to be sure.

Hello Gary and welcome to BPN! We are happy to see you here and hope you continue to post your images. Please jump in and comment on other images that you see posted here, we are all learning from each other and all opinions are appreciated.

Nice first post here, lots to like! Nice composition, detail, and color rendition. As mentioned above, the shooting angle could be better but the calling pose and full profile make for a strong image. Keep them coming, we never close!

Thanks Kerry for the welcome. I'm probably not very good at critiques, but I will give it a try. I guess that's how you improve. Just don't want to get anyone upset. The angle was a bit high, but I couldn't pass on the pose.

Gary

[Kerry Perkins]

Gary, there is a good discussion on how to critique here - http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/35198-The-Art-of-Critique-II-What-to-look-for.

Start with your overall impression, voice your opinions in a positive and gentle manner, and you will be good to go.