Photo Critique please

[Stephen R]

Hi all,
I took this picture at the weekend and i'm unsure as to wether I like it or wether it's a missed chance, could have been better.

1- Is it to dark?
2- Does it need more cropping?
3- Would it be better if the male was facing the camera?
4- Does the symmetry (sp?) work for you?

All comments gratefuly recieved.

cheers
steve

ps. I tried to upload it to the gallery with no sucess, presumably because the computer hates me ;)

[Colin Key]

Steve,

Composition (position of the two birds) is not good, and the exposure is also very poor. Try to post a larger image with some data on gear and camera settings.

Regards,

Colin

P.S. If you are able to post the original "out of camera" image (JPEG or RAW) we might be able to show you how to improve it with post processing.

[Stephen R]

Steve,

Composition (position of the two birds) is not good, and the exposure is also very poor. Try to post a larger image with some data on gear and camera settings.

Regards,

Colin

P.S. If you are able to post the original "out of camera" image (JPEG or RAW) we might be able to show you how to improve it with post processing.

I keep trying to but it keeps saying my upload fails, or my image is to big...i'm hopeless with image software, how would I manage to make it the right size on adobe photoshop?

The camera and lens were my usual Nikon D50 and ancient 400mm sigma telephoto.
Shutter speed was 1/640
Everything else is 'manual'.

sorry I cant help more.

[john robinson]

Stephen
Firstly it is too dark. Exposure setting on camera possibly-I always use spot metering
You can't do anything about the crropping - its about right.
Male position - you can't alter that unless you do the pics again. Positioning OK
All you can do - play with the gamma setting on your computer.
Cheers
John

[Colin Key]

Steve,

Without seeing the full exif data (aperture, ISO, etc) it is not possible to make comment on camera settings. Your shutter speed is not too bad if the light was poor, but hand-holding (no tripod?) at that speed is a bit "dodgy" and can result in blur from camera shake. Not sure what you mean by "all other settings on manual"?

Are you using the full version of Photoshop (CS2 or CS3) or PS Elements? I only use the latter in conjunction with Canon's Digital Photo Professional and I work on a Mac so giving precise instructions might not be of much help.

As John says, nothing you can do about composition other than take the photo again, and the basic problem with this shot is underexposure (and like John, I would suggest using spot metering). I have had a bit of a "play" with it but the file size is too small and there is not enough digital data here to manipulate. This is just a bit of exposure compensation and colour de-saturation. I think that with the original image you could also have sharpened it a bit with unsharp-mask.

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o100/Passarinhos/shoveler6test2.jpg

Colin

P.S. I am no expert at post-processing by any means and to do as little as possible. This is why I do not use Photoshop CS3, it is a bit (a lot!) of overkill for my needs. I have also used Paint Shop Pro and Lightroom and realise that there are many ways of achieving the same results. Also, you will never get the same advice from two different people - there is no "correct" way. I would advise you to shoot in RAW rather than JPEG, that way you have the maximum amount of data, there is no in-camera processing, and it is a loss-less format so you always have the original "digital negative" to go back and work on.

[Joe stockwell]

ahhh i see this all the time.. 99% of that is in my own work, i am a part time professional photographer (not nature though) so am fairly familiar with a camera and its settings but when photograping birds or nature i use appeture priority (unless manuall is really needed... swans!) and center spot meetering this way you will get roughly the exposure needed.
as for pp i have not a clue!

[Stephen R]

Ok thanks guys, i'll have a play around on photoshop then.

Colin- where I say "all other settings on manual" that is because on finepix viewer where it tells me my shutter speed etc, everything but shutter speed and time, is set to 'manual'.
With my gear I have to chose what shutter speed to shoot with so it's all a bit hit and miss.
I'm sorry i dont understand all the technical jargon but what is spot metering and aperture priority?

[john robinson]

Ok thanks guys, i'll have a play around on photoshop then.

Colin- where I say "all other settings on manual" that is because on finepix viewer where it tells me my shutter speed etc, everything but shutter speed and time, is set to 'manual'.
With my gear I have to chose what shutter speed to shoot with so it's all a bit hit and miss.
I'm sorry i dont understand all the technical jargon but what is spot metering and aperture priority?
Stephen
I'll try and explain a little.
You can set many parameters on the camera such as Shutter speed ,ISO (old film speed rating), white balance exposure method ,etc ,etc
Aperture priority means that you have set them all except the aperture which you pick by moving a dial on the camera as you shoot. What ever aaperture you pick ( I leave mine around f8 most of the time in the winter), all the other settings will stay the same except the shutter speed which will alter itself automatically when you change the aperture'
Metering can be of several types. Matrix often takes readings from the whole frame and averages it out. Centre weighted picks an area in the centre which can be size adjusted and takes the reading from that. Spot metering is a smaller spot in the centre which can be again adjusted in size. The areas of metering can in some cameras be moved around within the whole frame.
Lets take an example. We are photographing a blackbird on a post against a bright blue sky' Matrix method will take it all in and calculate an exposure value. For a general scene that is usually OK but in this case the bird will be too dark and under exposed because the camera has used too much of the bright sky as a basis.
Centre weighted metering will be similar.
Spot metering with a small sensor area will read off the bird and so the exposure should be better as the bright sky should not have affected the reading.
Does that help ?
For the gurus this explanation is the simplest way I can put it and by no means a thesis on camera exposure settings etc. When I started it took a while to get my head around much of the jargon.
Cheers
JohnR

[Colin Key]

Stephen,

I agree more or less with all that John says, and he is probably better placed than me to advise on settings with your camera body since he is also a Nikon user.

I was not quite sure what you meant by: "With my gear I have to chose what shutter speed to shoot with so it's all a bit hit and miss". The three main interdependent settings are shutter speed, lens aperture and ISO (the last being the equivalent of what used to be called "film speed" or ASA in the old days - then it alluded to the graininess of the film, now to "noise" - with both, the higher the value, the lower the image quality).

You should be able to opt for "aperture priority" (Av) mode or "shutter speed priority" (Tv) mode. I always use Av priority since this controls the depth of field (larger aperture = smaller f/stop number = shallower depth of field, and vice versa; and yes it is difficult to get your head round this in the beginning!!). A shallower depth of field will isolate your subject from the background by giving the bird sharp focus and the background a nice, non- distracting blur or "bokeh". The actual maximum aperture (f/number) available will depend on the lens but with a long (400-700mm focal length) lens I would tend to set the aperture at f/6.3 or f/7.1 and maybe f/8.0 for a larger bird (where too shallow a depth of field would not allow the whole bird to be in focus).

Since you are interested in bird photography (which is, without doubt, the most challenging of all) I would suggest doing some background reading on 1. Basic photographic principles (they have not changed since the camera was invented), 2. DSLR Photography, and 3. Bird/Wildlife Photography. Maybe a trip to your local library would be fruitful. I will try to find the titles of a few books I could recommend when I get the time.

I got my first camera when I was eight (Box Brownie) and also used my Mum's Kodak "bellows" camera, both of which produced excellent small format B&W prints which I still have. That was 51 years ago, and I still haven't really got it "sorted".

All the best,

Colin

[Stephen R]

Thanks guys! Its all very helpful.

[Colin Key]

Stephen,

Nothing in life which is worth doing is easy.

Stick at at it (and come back for help).

Best,

Colin