Blue Tit,...advice / thoughts please

[Steve-B]

hello all another newbie here, as a total newbie to photography i am trying to learn all I can and are trying to shoot in manual mode when ever I can, this shot of a blue tit was taken in my back garden this afternoon in cloudy/rainy conditions, i was using a sigma 150-500 lens at 450mm F8/ and had to raise the ISO to 800 to even get a speed of 1/125s . and was focusing on the eye. is there anything I could have done to have got the shot any sharper ( or is it a case of it was a bit dark for my 150-500 and the shutter speed was a bit slowwithout raising the ISO any more)
I welcome all veiws ( good or bad ) on this shot as I said I am a newbie at photography and being told where I am going wrong is going to help.

the picture was taken in RAW and was cropped and sharpened in PS elements

steve

 

[Martyn...]

Steve your D90 has the same sensor as my D300, I use auto ISO and manual settings, I am happy to shoot at ISO3200 and run the image through 'Noiseware' (available as a free download).

So this in mind aim at using a shutter speed of 1/500, and f7.1

Good light is the key to nice crisp shots, always have the sun behind you, ideally coming over your shoulder, it will make the world of difference.

It looks a bit washed out, colour wise, I use 'Standard' picture control setting for my wildlife stuff.

Overall it is a good effort, composition is fine, not sure how much sharpening you have applied, but it looks as if it could stand a bit more.

Just keep practising

 

[Trig's]

.... I am happy to shoot at ISO3200 and run the image through 'Noiseware' (available as a free download).

Martyn, just out of interest - would that be this download for noiseware noiseware :shrug

 

[Dean Wil]

Its a nice shot.

Like previous posts said, it could do with being sharpend a bit more.

Im no pro at this myself, but it looks to me like the chest was the focus point, rather than the eye. But i could be wrong.

Overall a good shot id say, i like it. Would be nice to see it a bit sharper!

 

[Steve-B]

Thanks for the info, I will take the advice on board...apart from looking at the shot on the camera screen is there another way of finding out where the focus point was....

 

[Trig's]

Thanks for the info, I will take the advice on board...apart from looking at the shot on the camera screen is there another way of finding out where the focus point was....

Do you have Nikons View NX installed on your pc :shrug: (its on the software disc or download it from Nikons site) That will tell you on there...

 

[Steve-B]

cheers Steve, had it installed on my laptop but had not used it, dean was right (thanks Dean ) focus was on chest rather than eye..I will check to make sure the camera is focusing where I think it is ( I cant imagine its not) it was probably the fact that previous to this shot all that was about was sparrows so when the blue tit turned up I rushed the shot..

 

[Martyn...]

Martyn, just out of interest - would that be this download for noiseware noiseware :shrug

Hi it probably is, but this is the one on their official site, it is the bottom one on the list LINK however the free version only works on Windows PCs, if you have a Mac (like me) you have to buy the plug in version.

 

[Dean Wil]

cheers Steve, had it installed on my laptop but had not used it, dean was right (thanks Dean ) focus was on chest rather than eye..I will check to make sure the camera is focusing where I think it is ( I cant imagine its not) it was probably the fact that previous to this shot all that was about was sparrows so when the blue tit turned up I rushed the shot..

Dont worry about it, ive made the mistake a few times, i find photographing birds properly very difficult to be honest, i can never get them in focus properly from a bit of a distance.

I think we've all rushed shots when somthing exiting pops up. Keep at it!