My Trip out

[Inkblots]

Hello,

Today marked my first day trying to get some wildlife shots. Bearing in mind ive had my camera for a week, and id never tried anything like this before.

Please be nice, actually no dont, be critical. Thankyou.

I wasn't going to put this one up but i may as well.

 

[Inkblots]

actually i hope these images arnt too big!

 

[Inkblots]

30 views, no comments

I wonder why?:bang:

 

[mobilevirgin]

OK - I'll bite. I can talk about the bird pics. Someone else will have to talk about the landscapes, an aspect of photography about which I know nothing and at which am, generally, rubbish (although they are over exposed). The bird pics are soft, but I'm not sure if it because they are out of focus or just soft. I looked at the exif of those images earlier. You're using a 300mm lens, but the shutter speed is too slow, so I'd suspect camera shake and a bit of focus issue as well. General rule of thumb is that your shutter speed should be the inverse of the lens length, so, so for a 300mm lens, you should be looking at a shutter speed of at least 1/300 sec. Given the crop of most digitals, I'd add a bit too, so try for 1/400 secs for your 300mm lens.

Also, from your exif, it looks like you shot in fully manual mode. The more experienced here may flame me for this, but I'd be tempted to use either AV mode (ie aperture setting) or TV mode (ie shutter speed) depending on what you're doing. And for you, I'd favour TV, especially with that lens. If the pics are too dark, then increase the ISO. Its what I do.

On a positive side, I think your framing and general eye for a pic is spot on. The duck, in particular is really nice from that point of view - you've got the eye in focus and a bit of a catch light there too - which is what most people will say is what's required.

Keep at it. Its worth it. Bookmark this thread and come back here in a year's time. Then see how things have changed.

Hope that wasn't too brutal, but its supposed to be helpful. I'm not perfect either.

MV

 

[Jimmy_Lemon]

Oooo! I missed this yesterday.

I think, as mobilevirgin says, that your framing is good I really like the shot looking upto the tree tops. Some of the shots look a little over exposed, for example the shot of the bush with the blue sky behind, the white flowers are very bright and a bit of the detail is lost. But things like this you learn how to over come with time. I know with my 350D I have to underexpose 1stop when out in bright sunshine.

Well done for using full manual! Its a good way to start I guess, but its very much jumping in at the deep end Av and Tv modes can be very usefull when shooting a lot of shots in quick succession.

Overall, well done though you seem to have an eye for an interesting shot, its just working on the technicalities now

 

[moomike]

Framing is good in the 2nd & 3rd IMO, the 1st does nothing for me I'm afraid.
I agree with JL about the overexposure - although this really works in the 2nd & I think you've got a really nice result in that one
IMHO the 2nd shot would make the day worth it for me, I'd be tempted to up the contrast to turn the shot into a bit more of a silhouette but aside from that it's really well taken

Av & Tv are absolutely fine to use & can save a lot of hassle - but you've already thrown yourself in at the deep end & are happily paddling away
I found that manual mode taught me the relationships between the cameras functions (with a lot of experimentation) & you've already made a good start & found out where you may have gone wrong in your 1st images.
Just try each different method to find out what works best for you, it's a steep learning curve but you're off to a good start, well done (& kudos for asking for honest C&C - even though you'd get it here even if you didn't ask for it )

 

[Ewan]

I think #2 is pretty good, although like moomike said I think it would be better with the contrast increased. #3 is nearly very good - if it was a bit sharper and possibly a bit more of the beak was visible I think it would have been great. Really like the framing

#1 doesn't do much for me. It's a bit 'busy' and there's no real focal point for your eye to settle on if you know what I mean.

Considering you've only had your camera for a week, you're doing great

 

[Inkblots]

thanks everyone for your opinions. I think next time ill shoot in tv, and set the shuter speed nice a fast to get some flight. Thanks again.

 

[mobilevirgin]

I think next time ill shoot in tv, and set the shuter speed nice a fast to get some flight. Thanks again.

Mix it up a bit - spend some time doing TV and some time doing AV and/or fully manual - see what works best for you.

Also, spend some time looking at the exif data when you get back, so you can understand what works and what doesn't.

Oh, and one final suggestion - take lots of pics: it increases your chances

Have fun. We look forward to seeing more