The birds in my local park.

[jaimej]

These are some shots I took the other day. They are my first wildlife shots where I have been in control of everything (aperture, shutter speed, etc).

Any comments, critiscism welcome. Be honest or I'll never learn.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/medium/DSCF1143.jpg

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/medium/DSCF11341.jpg

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/DSCF1145.jpg

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/medium/DSCF1134.jpg

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/medium/DSCF113412.jpg

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/medium/DSCF1146.jpg


http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/medium/DSCF1148.jpg

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/medium/DSCF1141.jpg

Thanks to anyone who has a look.

[Venomator]

Some really good shots there JaimeJ ... :thumbs:

The Mallard duck (Males) photos are very good ... it is so difficult to get that Green sheen on their heads just right ... but you have managed it in very well in most of them ... great stuff ... :D

The first Mute Swan head shot is really lovely ... well exposed and pretty good composition ... although a lower vantage point (when you can do it ...!) would avoid the distracting white oof background of its back ... imo ... :thinking:

The group Swan shot is a good 'un save for the distracting foreground dead plants ... ;)

The Moorhen suffers a bit from the wump of wood and being slightly soft too ... :shrug:

Last one is a female Mallard again appearing slightly soft ... and although a pretty good shot is a bit too centre frame for me and may benefit from a bit of a crop to left of frame ... again imo only ... ;)

All in all a nice set to look at JaimeJ ... TFS ... :D







:p

[RobertP]

Agree the subject is positioned a bit too central in some of them and one or two could be a bit sharper.

Overall though these are pretty good and the improvement over the early stuff you posted is obvious. Well done and keep it up :)

[CT]

You've done well there Jamie, particularly with the swan shots, swans can be an exposure nightmare, particularly in sunlight.

Ven's covered most of the points I think, but generally speaking with these sort of shots a lower viewpoint and large aperture helps to eliminate too much background detail. Obviously the amount of nice background bokeh (blur) you can get will depend also on how close they are and how long your lens is. Sometimes it's just not possible to get a lower viewpint, and other times you have to bite the bullet and lie down in the mud or get your feet wet.:D

Try to think how well your shot will succeed as a framed picture hanging on the wall. Take your time (when you can) composing that shot in the viewfinder.

It's easy to get carried away with filling the frame with bird shots, when often it's better pictorially to show a little of their surroundings too which results in a better overall picture. The reall winner IMO out of all your shots is the group swan shot, but think what the shot might have been if you'd managed to get down to water level to take it and eliminate those foreground weeds.

Promising start though Jamie, so keep at it. :thumbs:

[Jimmy_Lemon]

I like them all. Really well captured the colours of focus all seem spot on! well done :)

[jaimej]

Thanks all, you are all very kind.

[BBW]

Very nice shots, maybe one or two suffer from distractions in the foreground but that's not really important.

If I were to be critical I'd suggest getting a bit lower down - closer to eye level of the subject, as most of your shots are from above.