Critique Beginner. First attempt at bird in flight (Seagull)

[jgdmp]

Hi everyone, this is my first attempt at bird photography and I'm new to photography in general. I recently bought a Nikon J1 and took it down to the Thames in Windsor to play around with it - this is the best image from the day. The first image is as shot, 2nd is cropped and 3rd is a basic edit in Picasa and I would appreciate any feedback.


Gull1-1196 by jgdmp, on Flickr


Gull1-1196 crop by jgdmp, on Flickr


Gull1-1196 crop and edit by jgdmp, on Flickr

I also played around with the slow motion setting on the J1 and managed to catch one in flight. This is at 400fps and the original capture was just 5 seconds - quite tricky to keep the bird in frame, for a novice anyway, especially handheld.

 

[mike_EOS]

Well, BIF's are one of the most tricky subjects, so you've done well to get a sharp image on your first attempt. The crop works in most respects to me, as you now have the head on a third, but this leaves the Gull little room to fly into, but you couldn't do much else, as the original has the bird nearer the bottom of the frame.

The Picasa re-worked shot looks like by adding more contrast, and perhaps some saturation, you've added more shadow detail under wing, and behind the head. I actually prefer the 2nd image for the better detail and more natural colouring.

Very good efforts though, and a pleasing result.

Mike

 

[jgdmp]

The crop works in most respects to me, as you now have the head on a third, but this leaves the Gull little room to fly into, but you couldn't do much else, as the original has the bird nearer the bottom of the frame.

Thanks Mike, you're right about limited crop options. I looked at leaving a bit more space to the left, but even with a wider aspect ratio I thought it left the bird a little low.


Gull1-1196 crop2 by jgdmp, on Flickr

 

[Steve Hatch]

Excellent for first attempts