Newbie

[SuburbanSafari]

I’m just getting started (2 months) with this type of photography. Here are a few of my shots; I would appreciate any tips for improvement you may have. THANKS!

Nikon D850 with Nikon 200-500mm.

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[DRwyoming]

Good on ya for getting out there and shooting. Great images for just getting started. I like the compositions though it would be nice if the flying Great Blue Heron was cropped a bit looser with some more room to fly into the frame.

The biggest issue I see is soft eyes on these images. That could be critical focusing issues or insufficient lens support or shutter speed to stop motion. It might just be sticking with a center focus point and not carefully focusing on the eye. But sharp eyes in wildlife photos is pretty important and something worth working on.

In some images like the top GBH fishing the focus looks really close but really not razor sharp on the eyes. Some of that could just be post processing and not adequately sharpening the image at the final web size but it looks just a touch off.

For someone just getting into this area of photography I'd suggest working on your technique and even trying things like shooting completely static subjects (they don't have to be animals) in varying light using the methods you plan to use in the field. IOW, if you'll handhold with a specific lens then shoot some hand held photos of stationary objects with that lens and see what you really need for shutter speed in varying light conditions to get tack sharp images and get used to moving focus points as needed or focus and recomposing as needed to make sure the key parts of the image (eyes) are tack sharp.

The good news is we've all been there and this really does get easier with practice.

Keep the images coming!

 

[SuburbanSafari]

Good on ya for getting out there and shooting. Great images for just getting started. I like the compositions though it would be nice if the flying Great Blue Heron was cropped a bit looser with some more room to fly into the frame.

The biggest issue I see is soft eyes on these images. That could be critical focusing issues or insufficient lens support or shutter speed to stop motion. It might just be sticking with a center focus point and not carefully focusing on the eye. But sharp eyes in wildlife photos is pretty important and something worth working on.

In some images like the top GBH fishing the focus looks really close but really not razor sharp on the eyes. Some of that could just be post processing and not adequately sharpening the image at the final web size but it looks just a touch off.

For someone just getting into this area of photography I'd suggest working on your technique and even trying things like shooting completely static subjects (they don't have to be animals) in varying light using the methods you plan to use in the field. IOW, if you'll handhold with a specific lens then shoot some hand held photos of stationary objects with that lens and see what you really need for shutter speed in varying light conditions to get tack sharp images and get used to moving focus points as needed or focus and recomposing as needed to make sure the key parts of the image (eyes) are tack sharp.

The good news is we've all been there and this really does get easier with practice.

Keep the images coming!

Thanks, DRwyoming, for the advice. I’ll practice technique as you suggest and try some other AF focusing schemes as well as boosting shutter speeds above 1/2000th. The photogs I see in the field have been kind and helpful, and encourage me to practice as well.