Beginner lookin for critiques

[marksand35]

Hi Steve, I'm fairly new to bird photography and been watching your youtube videos and others to learn tips/tricks that will work for me. Thank you for creating those videos. To give alittle background on my photos. I usually go to a state park for my lunch which is between 12 - 2 pm, meaning not great light time. I try to find areas where its not so harsh but not usually successful as birds only cooperate so much. Gear and settings Nikon D850 Sigma 150-600 Contemp. Settings 1/3200 sec. f/7.1 600mm, ISO 1250. Post production was cropping, and some color, sharpening and watermark added. The editing was done with iphone photoshop express. Just quick editing to share with a friend.

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[jeffnles1]

can you post one of the uncropped and unedited versions of one of these photos? The reason I ask is either your camera should really produce sharper images or the crop was pretty extreme in which case, I wouldn't worry about the sharpness.


OK, overall impression:
1) to the best of your ability, time and location, try to shoot the wildlife doing something interesting. A bird on a branch is not that exciting, that same bird on the same branch with a big insect in its mouth, that's a far more interesting image.
2) while the time of day you get out isn't the "best" there really is no truly bad time to photograph wildlife as long as the wildlife is active. Many critters take a "nap" in the afternoon. I don't know if they really sleep but they are more active in the first couple hours of daylight and again the last couple hours of daylight. Yes, there are exceptions but I'm speaking in terms of maximizing your hit rate.
3) in the 2nd photo, your highlights are a bit overexposed which is causing some lack of detail.

OK, with this said, you mentioned you're fairly new to this type of photography. I will say you're off to a good start. I'm sure others will offer some concrete suggestions too.

Enjoy the journey.

 

[marksand35]

can you post one of the uncrossed and unedited versions of one of these photos? The reason I ask is either your camera should really produce sharper images or the crop was pretty extreme in which case, I wouldn't worry about the sharpness.


OK, overall impression:
1) to the best of your ability, time and location, try to shoot the wildlife doing something interesting. A bird on a branch is not that exciting, that same bird on the same branch with a big insect in its mouth, that's a far more interesting image.
2) while the time of day you get out isn't the "best" there really is no truly bad time to photograph wildlife as long as the wildlife is active. Many critters take a "nap" in the afternoon. I don't know if they really sleep but they are more active in the first couple hours of daylight and again the last couple hours of daylight. Yes, there are exceptions but I'm speaking in terms of maximizing your hit rate.
3) in the 2nd photo, your highlights are a bit overexposed which is causing some lack of detail.

OK, with this said, you mentioned you're fairly new to this type of photography. I will say you're off to a good start. I'm sure others will offer some concrete suggestions too.

Enjoy the journey.
[/QUOTE


It is a perch I setup at the park, but I cannot feed them there. So I have to be patient for them to land there. I think this is the original. I have a few similar ones and lost the metadata for the original so I chose one as close as possible but they are the same.

 

[jeffnles1]

Not sure what settings you were using. If you are using manual plus auto ISO or any of the aperture priority / shutter priority modes, try to dial back about -.3 to -.7 in the exposure compensation. It will darken the background but also keep the highlights in the bird's cheeks from being over exposed. You can always boost the shadows a bit in post processing. I prefer to get it out of camera and do as little post processing as is possible but sometimes the dynamic range of a scene is just too great to hit all the elements so expose for the highlights and to the extent possible boost the shadows. At least that's how I do it. Some may do it differently.

It is hard to tell but I don't think you've got a back focus or front focus problem going on there but hard to tell with this type of photo with an isolated subject. Is there a rest (picnic table, bench, tree, etc. upon which you can brace the camera? Can you bring a monopod or tripod there? Can you kneel down resting your elbow on your knee (like a rifle shooter)?

One other thing to think about. If the bird is sitting on a perch, you don't really need 1/3200 second which is boosting your ISO pretty high. Try opening the lens up to the full F6.3 and dropping your shutter speed down to something more like 1/1250 or 1/1000. Honestly, if you have something upon which to rest the camera you can do down to 1/800 and the image stabilization in the lens should enable you to get good sharp photos handheld down that far.

On my D500 and the same lens I've had acceptable photos of stationary subjects in good light down to 1/320 and "ID shots" down to 1/125 at 600mm. However, I wouldn't call the 1/125 second shots "good" or printable but OK to ID a bird.

Hope this discussion is helpful. You're doing good.

Overall, for a person new to bird photography you're off to a good start.

 

[marksand35]

Thank you for your input really appreciate it. I do shoot manual with auto iso. I am concentrating on composition and background blur for the “pro” look photos in the field without a controlled perch setup with food. So most of the time i preset my settings and forget to adjust for the situation. I guess I’m trying to be ready for all captures. I will pay more attention to stationary (perch) shots and adjust next time out. I also use higher shutter speeds to be able to compensate for my shake. Probably too high. With the higher shutter speed I’m also trying to capture the take off or landings. So really doing too many things at once I guess?

While out I sometimes take a monopod with a gimbal assembly on it to help with stabilization. Especially if I’m able to stay out longer. Where this perch is its standing height and nothing to rest on. Either hand held or on the monopod I try to take a balanced stance and support the weight with elbows in tight, hand held. Monopod I usually rest free hand’s wrist near end of lens to help stabilize.

You mentioned a back or front focus issue. Do you think it is a possible problem or not. I have never calibrated the lens with the camera as I’m not quite sure on how to do this with this big lens. I guess distance from the camera to the lens cal tool. Should it change for each focal length? I’ll have to look into this.

Thank you again!!

 

[Deleted member 115]

I think your birds are perfectly interesting in their pose. I prefer to see the bird species listed with each photo whenever possible but that's a personal choice. I agree that they should be dialed back on the exposure. Try using blinkies and chimping to dial in your exposure compensation as needed. In harsh midday light I would say -.3 to -.7 is a good idea. Then you will get a feel for it in no time.

 

[marksand35]

Hut, thank you for feedback. I will try the compensation adjustment. I will also try to add names of birds as well. They were Brown Headed Nuthatchers. I will try to recapture these birds with the suggestions given and in that area or close by depending on where I find them.

 

[jeffnles1]

You mentioned a back or front focus issue. Do you think it is a possible problem or not. I have never calibrated the lens with the camera as I’m not quite sure on how to do this with this big lens. I guess distance from the camera to the lens cal tool. Should it change for each focal length? I’ll have to look into this.

Thank you again!!

Honestly, looking at your images, I don't see anything obvious. AF Fine Tuning can be a road down to frustration. I've only had one lens that needed any significant calibration and it was an inexpensive "everything" lens (Tamron 18-400). My 200-500 ended up being good out of the box. My 105mm Macro is at -5 or -6 (can't remember). For a telephoto, -5 is such a minor adjustment you'll most likely not see it. For a macro with a very shallow depth of field when focusing close, -6 did pull the plane of focus just a touch toward the camera. At longer focus distances, I see no difference between 0 and -6.

There are a lot of methods to look at this and if you search the forum there are pages and pages of discussion. Before messing around with it, what I would suggest doing is taking photos of perhaps a duck on the water or looking down a fence, focus on a specific post or put a paying card or something on the fence and take some photos. Is it focused on your subject, a little in front or a little behind? If it's on your subject, then I would suggest not worrying about it (if it isn't broken then why fix it?).

Hope this helps.
Jeff

 

[clippy]

I like the first photo the best. I would try and take the highlights down and the photo looks to be a little soft. Many reasons for soft looking photos. Thats something that everyone fights at some time. My best advice is if this is a hard crop get closer.

 

[Butlerkid]

Maybe I missed it, but what focus mode are you using? Single point? Group? Or ??? Do you shoot raw? Then you can use Nikon s/w to see where you focus point was. You should try to focus on the bird's eye.

 

[marksand35]

I like the first photo the best. I would try and take the highlights down and the photo looks to be a little soft. Many reasons for soft looking photos. Thats something that everyone fights at some time. My best advice is if this is a hard crop get closer.

Thanks, it’s not that hard a crop. Without a blind and feeding perch it’s really hard to get too close. But I will do what I can. Thanks for advice.

 

[marksand35]

Maybe I missed it, but what focus mode are you using? Single point? Group? Or ??? Do you shoot raw? Then you can use Nikon s/w to see where you focus point was. You should try to focus on the bird's eye.

I use Dynamic 9 or single. Depends on how active the bird is. The Nuthatcher is pretty active and don’t sit still long at all so it makes it hard to stay on it. I can’t feed it as I do these shots at a State Park which they don’t allow it. All I have is that branch I found out there and propped it up with another to make a perch where I could get foliage in the background to soften that. Hoping that they’ll land there at times. Since no food, I do try to use a call for short period as not to stress them. Yes I shoot raw and do use Nikon and other software to see where I’m hitting the birds. Still learning to anticipate their movements and signs for possible movement and keeping an eye on wind direction for takeoff. I hope that helps and thanks for feedback.

 

[Roy]

Hi Steve, I'm fairly new to bird photography and been watching your youtube videos and others to learn tips/tricks that will work for me. Thank you for creating those videos. To give alittle background on my photos. I usually go to a state park for my lunch which is between 12 - 2 pm, meaning not great light time. I try to find areas where its not so harsh but not usually successful as birds only cooperate so much. Gear and settings Nikon D850 Sigma 150-600 Contemp. Settings 1/3200 sec. f/7.1 600mm, ISO 1250. Post production was cropping, and some color, sharpening and watermark added. The editing was done with iphone photoshop express. Just quick editing to share with a friend.




View attachment 17240View attachment 17242

I may be wrong but
Dont save or edit Jpeg files - Jpg is lossy and every time you save/load they lose information.
Jpg is great for sending small files over the internet - not much else.

 

[Ralph]

Mark, I agree with Jeff & Hut that if you are using auto iso that you should dial back on the exposure. -0.3 or -0.7 would be just about right. If you are not shooting auto iso than bring the ISO down. You would be amazed on what you can recover if you are shouting RAW which I highly recommend. A little underexposure never hurts. I always shot JPEG until I joined this forum but once I switched I never looked back. You can always shoot both if you want. I also agree that your shutter speeds are a little too fast considering the situation.

 

[jeffnles1]

Mark, I agree with Jeff & Hut that if you are using auto iso that you should dial back on the exposure. -0.3 or -0.7 would be just about right. If you are not shooting auto iso than bring the ISO down. You would be amazed on what you can recover if you are shouting RAW which I highly recommend. A little underexposure never hurts. I always shot JPEG until I joined this forum but once I switched I never looked back. You can always shoot both if you want. I also agree that your shutter speeds are a little too fast considering the situation.

I agree about the raw thing. I shoot Raw + JPG. Raw on the XQD card and JPG on the SD. If the camera only has one card slot you can still shoot RAW + JPG just on the same card. Card will fill up a little faster, but SD cards are not expensive. Original poster is using D850 which has 2 card slots.

The way I use it is if the exposure and image is "close enough" out of camera that very minor edits to the JPG file are what I want, I'll work with it and then keep the JPG in my library which gets backed up to cloud. If I missed exposure, want more detail in shadows, or need to do more extensive post processing for whatever reason, I'll work from the RAW file for all the reasons stated over and over again on the forums and discussions. I will store both the RAW and resulting JPG in my cloud folder. I do store the RAW files of the JPGS that I keep on an external drive for any future use.

I end up keeping about 10% of the images I shoot on any given day and some days less. Delete key is my best friend. On a recent day when I was photographing eagles feeding their baby in a nest, I shot about 800 images. I loaded about 100 into my photos library and have since narrowed that down to about 50. As time goes on I'll narrow the 50 down to probably 20. In this situation, there are only so many photos one wants or needs to keep of a bird looking up, looking down, looking left, looking right, raising a wing, turning around on the nest, etc..

Sorry, wandered off track. Hope all of the discussion so far has been a help. Thanks Ralph for mentioning the the RAW + JPG idea. It completely slipped my mind as I was talking about the exposures above.

 

[Ralph]

I agree about the raw thing. I shoot Raw + JPG. Raw on the XQD card and JPG on the SD. If the camera only has one card slot you can still shoot RAW + JPG just on the same card. Card will fill up a little faster, but SD cards are not expensive. Original poster is using D850 which has 2 card slots.

The way I use it is if the exposure and image is "close enough" out of camera that very minor edits to the JPG file are what I want, I'll work with it and then keep the JPG in my library which gets backed up to cloud. If I missed exposure, want more detail in shadows, or need to do more extensive post processing for whatever reason, I'll work from the RAW file for all the reasons stated over and over again on the forums and discussions. I will store both the RAW and resulting JPG in my cloud folder. I do store the RAW files of the JPGS that I keep on an external drive for any future use.

I end up keeping about 10% of the images I shoot on any given day and some days less. Delete key is my best friend. On a recent day when I was photographing eagles feeding their baby in a nest, I shot about 800 images. I loaded about 100 into my photos library and have since narrowed that down to about 50. As time goes on I'll narrow the 50 down to probably 20. In this situation, there are only so many photos one wants or needs to keep of a bird looking up, looking down, looking left, looking right, raising a wing, turning around on the nest, etc..

Sorry, wandered off track. Hope all of the discussion so far has been a help. Thanks Ralph for mentioning the the RAW + JPG idea. It completely slipped my mind as I was talking about the exposures above.

 

[marksand35]

Thank you everyone for your input. I have read through them all and appreciate all the things to try or look for. I know I have raised my shutter speed for when hand holding and trying to capture take offs or landings as well as the bird being very active on a branch or stump. Being sure I get them all sharp or more sharps than softs. Most of the time I’m using a monopod with a gimbal on top to help stabilize but doesn’t seem to always work. The really small birds just don’t seem to sit long at all. I’ve been working on other things that Steve brings up in his videos like always trying to prefocus so I’m ready when for the shot. From all this that I’m going to try is bring shutter speed down and concentrate on just one portion of photos at a time like just capture bird sitting and then maybe raise shutter for pending takeoff. Also back the exposure comp down -.3 or -.7, since I am shooting manual with auto iso. The other I will add is checking different apertures to find the best one for better results. Thanks again everyone!!

 

[Andrew Lamberson]

You did not mention if you were shooting handheld or on a tripod. At 600mm it would be very difficult to get fine detail with a handhold. You may not think so, but you are moving the camera ever so slightly causing a loss of detail (it blurs). I use a monopod or tripod on all my bird shots because I'm a feather detail fanatic and I just can't get it handheld.

Also, use a remote shutter. It is stunning how much that can help. You don't need an expensive one. I use my $18 corded one most of the time!

If you have a live view ability on the camera use that on the tripod and you will really be stunned on much much camera shake you have! I will always take a quick image (just in case the bird flies away) and then watch on the screen until the camera stops shaking. It is normally about 2-3 seconds!

 

[Walter Baliero]

To talk to a beginner on the subject of birds we would have to have unlimited time and space, since there are so many items to consider, but here are the basics. I am a bird photographer and the first thing that fills my eyes when I see a picture its format and the location of the subject and other elements within the frame, that is, the composition. I think that the square format that you use is not the ideal one, as there is too much of the photo lost, besides that you center the subject, which takes away dynamism, my suggestion is to cut 2x3 or 3x2 according to the same elements. In the case of the first one that you present, I would cut it to 2x3 and in the second to 3x2 without forgetting that it is better to leave the subject more air towards the side they are looking at, that is, not centered. As for the technical, it is necessary to consider the incidence of light, the colors of the bird (be careful, consider exposure compensation -0.3 or less to avoid highlights when it has white plumage and is in the sun, it is not necessary if at shade or cloudy day), the environment, the background, if it is a static subject or in flight, etc. In short, the first impact that tells me if the photographer is a beginner or is already started is the cut and composition format, the rest is learned as you go. I leave here you a couple of photos of me on the subject.

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[Woody Meristem]

Hi Steve, I'm fairly new to bird photography and been watching your youtube videos and others to learn tips/tricks that will work for me. Thank you for creating those videos. To give alittle background on my photos. I usually go to a state park for my lunch which is between 12 - 2 pm, meaning not great light time. I try to find areas where its not so harsh but not usually successful as birds only cooperate so much. Gear and settings Nikon D850 Sigma 150-600 Contemp. Settings 1/3200 sec. f/7.1 600mm, ISO 1250. Post production was cropping, and some color, sharpening and watermark added. The editing was done with iphone photoshop express. Just quick editing to share with a friend.




View attachment 17240View attachment 17242

To me the photos look a bit overexposed; as others have said, with a light background it's best to use a -1/3 or 2/3 EV -- maybe even more is the background is really light. Unless your hands really shake, even handheld you don't need 1/3200 second so the more you can drop your speed the lower ISO you'll have and the better photograph. I don't mind your compositions at all, composition is an artistic preference -- to each their own. In the first photo the eye looks sharp to me, the rest of the bird not so much. I almost always shoot JPG (heresy to many photographers) since I don't print large photographs and can edit JPGs to my satisfaction. For my purposes RAW images require too much processing and I'd rather spend time in forest and field rather than behind a computer. JPGs do lose quality each time they're copied, so I don't copy them nore than once or twice. I often use a monopod in the field, Steve's pipe insulation in a vehicle and a tripod in a blind, but I'm not wedded using a support -- this kinglet photo was taken hand-held https://bcgforums.com/index.php?threads/ruby-crowned-kinglet.7498/#post-74229