Beginner Comments please !

Compuwight

Compuwight

Messages
955
Name
Steve France
Edit My Images
Yes
I took this picture with a Nikon D3200 and old Sigma 50-500 non OS hand held. I not sure of the results, I personally like the picture and would like some comments to help improve for the future. I have cropped in Lightroom and added lens correction (which is about my limits at the moment)

ThanksEgret.jpgEgret in Flight.jpg in advance
 
Could you let us see the uncropped pictures as well, please? I suspect that you have cropped too much for image quality. There is a lot of visible chromatic aberration (colour fringes) which suggests to me that you have cropped too much but it could be a really poor lens.
 
I have tried to upload original but get error file too big, what is maximum size please....
 
Hiya Steve, first off, both shots are over-exposed, whites are blown out, that's probably the main cause of the chromatic aberration. White birds like this Little egret, in harsh bright sunlight are the hardest to get right. Consentrate on the bird not the background, spot focus will help but you'll still probaly need some minus compensation

Shutter speed if far too slow on the flight shot, you need minimum 1/1250th but I would say if you are new to bif, go even higher. The down side to this is upping the ISO but in good light it shouldn't be a problem

A good start would be posting the exif?, single focus point or group?, metering? ..... the more you can tell us about the shot, the easier it might be to pin point the problems. Even the uncropped shot looks soft, so maybe too slow for the focal length used,

If birds are your interest, pop along to the birding section, post a few photos and ask for advice/criteque (y)
 
Last edited:
Right not sure how to export exif stuff, but f5.6 1/800 iso400 0 bias pattern metering 300mm focal length.
So guessing I should set spot metering and set speed at least 1/1250, go for the full 500mm and set bias to minus for white birds.
Thanks for your advice
 
Lots of advice here about the technical side (shutter speed too slow etc) already so I’ll concentrate on the image itself.

By cropping in you have lost a lot of quality and it is pinpointing the faults with the focusing etc more.

Personally I feel the other image you posted is a stronger image in that it shows the subjects surroundings more. Use the rule of thirds etc and I think you’ll find these may be the strongest images in the set.

Nature is not hugely my “thing” (I shoot mainly in studio but some pets outdoors) however if you are looking to get an image of JUST your subject it is generally better to compose the image right in camera to avoid the above (although I understand this would mean longer range lenses etc so may not be an option)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top