Took this photo of Curve-billed Thrasher in my yard, Green Valley, AZ 1/3/2008 2:01 testing my new Olympus E-510 using one of the kit lens 40-150mm 1:4-5.6 at 144mm. Aperturte Priortity, F7.1 1/500 EV 0 ISO 200 Fill Flash ttl -.7 EV, Hand Held. Have a varity of about 30 different birds in my yard throughout the year with many others nearby in the neighbourhood. At 83 going on 16, i need all the help I can get. My thanks to George for his "How to post" tutorial.
Welcome Gus! Sounds like you have a perfect yard to hone your techniques...always a treat to have so many subjects close at hand. Fine job capturing a sharp image and nice use of fill flash. My first suggestion would be to look for a less cluttered background. All the sticks behind the bird distract my attention. Since this was taken in your own yard, you have a perfect situation where you could work to create more suitable perches. I know many photographers will strap various perches to feeders or other areas where birds frequent. In this way you determine a vantage point with a desirable background and then wait for the birds to arrive. You can also do the same thing with existing vegetation/perches in your yard...just look for the best background ahead of time and wait the birds out (food and water help a lot here). As you setup or look for perches keep in mind that near eye level is ideal for many bird photographs. I hope that my advice is helpful, and I'll see you around BPN!
Welcome Gus. You captured a really nice bird with good light and a proper exposure, congrats on that. Simple compostions with nothing that detracts from your subject is a good goal to achieve with bird portraits. Here your problem is the very busy background. The out of focus limbs draw your attention away from your subject. It sounds like you have a good backyard to photograph in. Set up attractive natural perches in spots that have nice colorful out of foucus backgrounds. When the birds land on these perches while coming for food you can photograph them...
Judd and D-Bob offered excellent suggestions. The only thing that I would add is to place your perches at eye level and try to find a spot where the background is some distance from the perch. This will give you a nice, soft, de-focused BKGR.
later and love, artie
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Curve-billed Thrasher
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