Eastern Yellow Robin

[Derek Willcox]

this is my first on BPN
Iam still learning on all respects with bird photography
cropped and sharpened in PS with nik software
Canon EOS 7D
EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
Exposure Program Aperture-priority AE
Shutter Speed 1/320
F Number F 5.6
ISO 800

[Kerry Perkins]

Derek, big warm welcome to the site and to ETL! What an excellent way to start, with a lovely image so well captured. Excellent exposure, detail, color, and pose. Love the eye contact! Background is lovely and subdued and adds to the quiet intimacy of the shot. Sweet light and very well done all around. Look forward to lots more from you, thanks for sharing!

[John Chardine]

Hi Derek- Welcome to BPN from me too! What a fantastic way to start! Kerry has covered the highlights. I would like to explore cropping options. I think there is enough space given to the right and below the subject but if you ignore the tail (which is easy because it's dark and OOF), the breast is closer to the left side than the back is to the right. I would try some other crops where more room is given on the right. I often have trouble visualising this so I have to bring it into Photoshop and experiment- see attached for quick version of what I am thinking. With more space on the left it would be nice if there was some perch detail in the original on that side to give some interest.

Look forward to seeing more Australian birds!

[Derek Willcox]

thank you both
john iam always getting my crops wrong is there a way to tell which is better vertical or horizontal for a pic
and the repost does look a lot better

[John Chardine]

Hi Derek- I don't think your crop was "wrong" but it is often instructive to consider alternatives. Square crops like I produced tend not to be preferred. You could keep the vertical, which suits your upright subject, and still give a bit more room in the direction he is looking. To step back and review some basic principles I follow in wildlife photography: give enough room to your subject so that it doesn't look like it's boxed-in; usually give more room above the subject than below, unless, for example, the bird is descending or in some other circumstance where more room below would be logical; provide room below to include "virtual feet" if they are hidden; give more room in the direction the subject is looking or obviously moving, than behind. Although I don't slavishly follow compositional rules, I often find that once I have cropped as described above, the main points of interest in the image fall in the vicinity of the ROT intersections.

This is a huge subject and I have to admit to usually cropping by instinct. I will often receive a comment or two on the chosen crop and I find other pairs of eyes are often exceptionally valuable to see alternatives. Would be interested in other's comments on this important subject.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Wow,..what a shot!

Derek love this picture, regarding composition there is some good information on rule of thirds in the Education Forum. I love both images but favor John's for two reasons. I like the rule of thirds offset and the first was a little too tight for me. Now that is subjective and the nice thing about taking a great shot like this - you can explore as John mentioned.

Nice detail for 1/320, good tripod technique and assume you increased the ISO to help shutter. What nik app did you use for sharpening - really like this one.

[Derek Willcox]

thanks jeff the nik plug in is called Sharpener Pro™ 3.0

[Jeff Cashdollar]

I actually have that, need to give it a try - thanks.