Dragon619
Member
Hi all, Critiques, tips on improving welcome.
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New here. Northern Waterthrush Z50+ 300mm pf +1.4tc
- Thread starter Dragon619
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Dragon619
Member
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nice set
Super shots.
Super! nailed it
Dragon619
Member
Thank you! Im happy with most of the shots , still learning the camera and what settings to use for birds. Ive learned a lot searching the forums for Z50 info and tried to apply it.
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Hope I'm not being too critical, but for me the bird is too centred and not really looking into the frame except in the first pic; It could also do with lightening up and sharpening a bit. I think it would look better if you could crop out most of the light out of focus rocks at the bottom. I like the reflection in #s 2 , 3 and 4.
Woody Meristem
Well-known member
Very nice photos, especially the 3rd with the great reflection. If they were mine I'd try a lightening brush on the bird or lightening the "shadows" and darkening the highlights. I took the liberty of doing a quick and dirty try at that in FastStone, hope you don't mind --
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Dragon619
Member
Thanks for the tips Woody. I dont do much post processing of my pics yet. Im shooting jpeg and use photoshop to crop but i want to try raw, lightroom, topaz, ect eventually.
Very nice images. Nature has given you a tricky situation. The water is beautiful but is significantly brighter than the bird. Therefore the bird appears darker. A possible solution for this situation is to use fill in flash adjusted to a minimal degree enough to give enough light to the bird.
As suggested above it can also be done in post processing. I have been using Darktable with excellent results. It includes noise reduction is part of it and that's a particularly good job in that regard. I even tried a non-Orthodox approach with editing JPEG images with very nice results. (Traditionally raw images give more latitude for corrections ).
www.photo-sapiens.net
As suggested above it can also be done in post processing. I have been using Darktable with excellent results. It includes noise reduction is part of it and that's a particularly good job in that regard. I even tried a non-Orthodox approach with editing JPEG images with very nice results. (Traditionally raw images give more latitude for corrections ).
www.photo-sapiens.net
Last edited:
BAL Land
Well-known member
I would brighten the images more.
Several people have mentioned the bird being too dark in some of the images. This could have been corrected in the field by using exposure compensation(+) or switching to full manual mode. As a general rule set exposure for the bird and live with what you get for the rest of the image. With scenes like this with high dynamic range there's always a compromise to make. Particularly when shooting jpeg. You have to decide what is most important in the scene and set exposure for that. Since you're shooting jpeg you could also try using the in-camera HDR function. When shooting RAW and learning some post processing there is a lot more latitude. Then you can pick an "average" exposure and work on it on the computer.
Really like this one!
You may know this already, but I guess it's fair to say that most of us spend a lot more time editing a picture than actually capturing it with the camera. Processing of the image afterwards can make or break the image. I agree with what's already been said that the images are a bit underexposed. This especially happens when there are both a bright background (water and reflective rocks/pebbles) and the side of the bird facing the camera is in shadow.
Secondly, it makes for a more dynamic-looking image if the bird is not in the centre of the image. Crop it so that the bird is offset a bit to one of the sides, always leaving more space in front of the animal than behind it. If you leave more space behind it feels like the animal is looking or walking out of the frame rather than into it. Read Internet articles on the Rule of thirds if you're not already familiar with it.
Below is a rough example of adjusting the exposure and framing. Not a great example by any measure, but hopefully it illustrates my points. This way one can see a lot more detail in the bird's face.
Secondly, it makes for a more dynamic-looking image if the bird is not in the centre of the image. Crop it so that the bird is offset a bit to one of the sides, always leaving more space in front of the animal than behind it. If you leave more space behind it feels like the animal is looking or walking out of the frame rather than into it. Read Internet articles on the Rule of thirds if you're not already familiar with it.
Below is a rough example of adjusting the exposure and framing. Not a great example by any measure, but hopefully it illustrates my points. This way one can see a lot more detail in the bird's face.
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