Great Tit

[kellyamina]

I feed the birds very close to where I sit outside, so theyve all got very tame...making it easier for me to get a half decent shot as a beginner....any good?

 

[Phil-D]

Hi Kelly, not a lot wrong with the bird, focus looks good as does detail ......I'm viewing on a laptop, not monitor, but it does look like a little more pp'ing would make it pop, it looks a tad dark.

I rather like the perch too, can you sit and get a clear back ground?

Can you put some natural perches up, logs and branches? If you can put them where there's a good clean bg it will help.

Also think about the light, do you prefer morning or evening? If you can get low sun behind you and onto the bird it will make for some lovely shots.

......and welcome to TP

 

[kellyamina]

thanks Phil, I am able to get them with a clear backround, I think i have some...Ill have a quick look

 

[kellyamina]

Hi Kelly, not a lot wrong with the bird, focus looks good as does detail ......I'm viewing on a laptop, not monitor, but it does look like a little more pp'ing would make it pop, it looks a tad dark.

I rather like the perch too, can you sit and get a clear back ground?

Can you put some natural perches up, logs and branches? If you can put them where there's a good clean bg it will help.

Also think about the light, do you prefer morning or evening? If you can get low sun behind you and onto the bird it will make for some lovely shots.

......and welcome to TP

What about this one, not as good focus?

 

[Phil-D]

What about this one, not as good focus?

Focus looks ok to me Kelly, compositions better and good clean bg

Here's my edit done using Elements 14.

I lifted the shadows, made a copy, reduced the blue channel, added a layer mask, then brushed in just around the head, this got rid of the blue cast to the blacks and white but left the blue down the wing, then saved.

Opened again, made a copy, sharpened to 50, again added a layer mask and did a little selective sharpening around eye and some feather detail. Then using Nik Dfine I reduced back ground noise.

Saved again then did a bit of cloning, the other post would be just as easy to remove. Cloning's a personal choice and not to everyones taste

Not sure what level of pp'ing you have but all the above is easy to do once you've learned the techniques, all took no more than a couple of minutes.

If you need any help....................I'll tag Mike @pooley

Only kidding, it was Mike that kindly taught me the techniques , If you do want to know how I've done any of the above in more detail, I'll try type up in easy to follow steps

 

[pooley]

Focus looks ok to me Kelly, compositions better and good clean bg

Here's my edit done using Elements 14.

I lifted the shadows, made a copy, reduced the blue channel, added a layer mask, then brushed in just around the head, this got rid of the blue cast to the blacks and white but left the blue down the wing, then saved.

Opened again, made a copy, sharpened to 50, again added a layer mask and did a little selective sharpening around eye and some feather detail. Then using Nik Dfine I reduced back ground noise.

Saved again then did a bit of cloning, the other post would be just as easy to remove. Cloning's a personal choice and not to everyones taste

Not sure what level of pp'ing you have but all the above is easy to do once you've learned the techniques, all took no more than a couple of minutes.

If you need any help....................I'll tag Mike @pooley

Only kidding, it was Mike that kindly taught me the techniques , If you do want to know how I've done any of the above in more detail, I'll try type up in easy to follow steps

View attachment 102233

Nice work Padawan!!

Kelly,

A good start with these, you've got plenty of the basics right - shooting from close to eye level, a nice head angle close to parallel with the sensor, and a nice clean background in the second. Some nice thin-ish twigs would make for nice perches to improve things further. White balance looks good.

Phil has done some nice work with his edit, but if you can get as much right at the shooting stage it makes life a whole lot easier - I don't know how far your knowledge stretches so if you're after technical advice in the future, maybe post your settings as well the next couple of times.

Keep getting shots and post them up and you'll quickly improve without really realising it!

Looking forward to seeing more.

Mike

 

[kellyamina]

Thank you both, I have no idea what any of that editing meant, and it confused me just reading it! But im sure Ill get there in the end!

 

[Phil-D]

Thank you both, I have no idea what any of that editing meant, and it confused me just reading it! But im sure Ill get there in the end!

Its not many months ago it would've confused me Kelly!

It really is easy to do, trying to explain what I did was a lot harder for me than the actual edit, it sounds more confusing and complicated than it is!