Photo critique?

[Colin Key]

I enjoy looking at the photo galleries (but would again press for a limit of two image uploads per member in a 24 hr period as I suggested in another thread) and especially like to give helpful advice; I am not setting myself up as an "expert" in any way, but it seems to me that there are a lot of "trigger happy" photographers who could make better use of their equipment and also improve their shooting technique and post-processing skills. There are now quite a few forum members who have appreciated my "handy hints" and who have thanked me for showing them what can be done to some of the images posted in order to improve them.

I wonder whether it might be useful to create a separate sub-forum where members can post images for critical appraisal and ask for help on how to improve their bird photography. Any thoughts on this?

Colin

[michael23]

hi colin, i do agree with you there, it would be a good idea, and a very interesting one at that, i must admit to not having much experience with image editing, i myself only have elements 2, and i dont always have the time to sit down and learn more. what software do you use yourself to edit?

[Colin Key]

hi colin, i do agree with you there, it would be a good idea, and a very interesting one at that, i must admit to not having much experience with image editing, i myself only have elements 2, and i dont always have the time to sit down and learn more. what software do you use yourself to edit?

Hello Michael,

As a Canon user I have Canon's own "DPP" (Digital Photo Professional, the software which comes with the camera and is a useful RAW converter) and I also use Photoshop Elements v.6 for Mac. Version 7 is available for PC. I think you would find a huge difference between the current version and V.2 which you are using (and was what I started with).

I have access to the full Photoshop CS4 but to be honest 95% of it is redundant as far as photography is concerned, most of its tools are aimed at graphic designers. The latest version of PS Elements does more than most people need.

There are some people who are a real "whizz" with Photoshop but I do not have that much time to indulge in post-processing and I firmly believe that whatever gear you are using, to get exposure, white balance, DOF and composition correct when you take the shot is 90% of the battle. You can improve ANY image with processing, but you cannot make a good photo out of a bad one. And, shooting in RAW as opposed to JPEG is the only way to go.

Best,

Colin

[PaulW]

Hi Colin, I'm a beginner at this so would appreciate any constructive criticism, I do have PSE 7 but not really the first idea although I have had a play
cheers
Paul

[exeter_uk]

Colin, i think that would be a great idea. Whenever i post an image on the forum galley i hope that someone will give comments or critique, and have found your hints and tips, as well as those of others, very useful indeed.

:beer:

[Colin Key]

Hello Paul,

Which camera and lens do you use for birding photography? Do you understand the difference between RAW and JPEG? Could you post a photo for me to look at.

The whole business is a "swamp" for beginners, not just the intricacies of modern DSLR's but the incredibly complex (and very clever and creative) processing software.

In due course I intend to produce a list of books and websites which I have found useful.

My personal viewpoint here is that you have to establish how much time you wish to spend on birding/actual photography/image processing.

I would also say, as I have said to many "newbie birdwatchers", your two best friends are the the one person who knows a little bit less than you, and the other person who knows a little bit more than you - this will move the learning process forward much faster than putting yourself into the hands of an "expert".

Always happy to help,

Colin :smile:

[Colin Key]

Hi Colin, I'm a beginner at this so would appreciate any constructive criticism, I do have PSE 7 but not really the first idea although I have had a play
cheers
Paul

Hello again Paul,

I have just noticed your shot of a Redshank on the galleries. Looking at the limited Exif data I see that you are using a Nikon D60 and although the lens is not identified it gives the focal length as 500mm. F/9.0 is a bit "close" for a bird of that size, but 1/1000s is good - I think you you could have reduced the ISO from 800 to 400 and used a wider aperture here for this static bird to improve I.Q. and give more scope for processing


Any chance of you sending the original (straight out of camera) image of that shot to chkey@clix.pt - from the file size I assume it is a was shot in RAW? If so I will take a look at what can be done to improve it and report back.

Best,

Colin

[michael23]

hi colin, if you take a look at some mute swan pics in my album i feel these are over exposed, what would
you advise to do with regards the brightness of the image?

[Colin Key]

hi colin, if you take a look at some mute swan pics in my album i feel these are over exposed, what would
you advise to do with regards the brightness of the image?

Michael,

I cannot find a link to your album pictures. Will look again tomorrow - time for bed for me now (I am up and out at 5.30 am tomorrow)!

Colin :wub:

[admin]

Great idea and there is now a forum set up in Photography, Digiscoping, DSLR and Video called Photo Critique (http://www.surfbirds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=51)

As there's already some great advice in this thread, I'm moving this over to Photo Critique.
________
Ferrari Mythos history (http://www.ferrari-wiki.com/wiki/Ferrari_Mythos)

[PaulW]

thanks very much Colin, will do that tonight as soon as my daughter lets me get on my computer!!

Paul

[Colin Key]

Great idea and there is now a forum set up in Photography, Digiscoping, DSLR and Video called Photo Critique (http://www.surfbirds.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=51)

As there's already some great advice in this thread, I'm moving this over to Photo Critique.

Well done, thank you - I hope that both aspiring and experienced bird photographers will contribute to this.

Colin :yes:

[michael23]

hi colin, not sure if you were able to find my album?
I created an album through the user cp and all of my photos are in there.
also what is the difference between an album created via the user cp and the members albums?

[Colin Key]

hi colin, not sure if you were able to find my album?
I created an album through the user cp and all of my photos are in there.
also what is the difference between an album created via the user cp and the members albums?

Hello Michael,

Sorry, I forgot all about this. I did eventually manage to find your album and looked at the series of Mute Swan photos. It is difficult to comment about exposure level because those photos have been uploaded as very low resolution images - they need to be at about 800 pixels "image dimension" and maximum "file size" (image quality). They just lack enough "digital data" to make a good image.

Is it possible for you to upload an image "straight out of camera" without any processing or cropping?

Cheers,

Colin

P.S. If not, I will PM you my email address and you could send it to me there, but I do not want to publish it on open forum.

[michael23]

hi colin, thanks for your reply, here is an untouched origional image, i uploaded it to photobucket and then attached here.
1/1000sec f10, no exp comp.srgb colour space. taken on an eos 350d with sigma 70-300 apo.
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv283/michael23_photo/037.jpg

i tried to upload a raw image to photobucket to embed here, but it doesnt let me, does anyone know where i have gone wrong?

[Colin Key]

hi colin, thanks for your reply, here is an untouched origional image, i uploaded it to photobucket and then attached here.
1/1000sec f10, no exp comp.srgb colour space. taken on an eos 350d with sigma 70-300 apo.
http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv283/michael23_photo/037.jpg

i tried to upload a raw image to photobucket to embed here, but it doesnt let me, does anyone know where i have gone wrong?

Photobucket will only allow you to upload JPEGS, and there is a size (file-size and image dimension) restriction.

I have PM'd you my email address so you can send me an original RAW file.

Best,

Colin

[Colin Key]

Further to my previous post (above), I would like to pursue the idea of having an upload limit to the forum galleries; I suggested two images maximum per member in a 24 hour period. I feel that there are a number of "trigger happy" forum members who are flooding the galleries with an unnecessary number of often not very good quality photos. This results in other photos being subsumed to the "basement" before they get a reasonable amount of exposure.

As I have said before, other more photographically orientated forums are much stricter (e.g. "NatureScapes Net" allows only one bird image in any 48 hour period) - quality rather than quantity is very important, without wishing to sound "high-handed".

Just my two centimos worth.

Colin :smile: