Hummingbird help

[jpainting]

I'm very new to digital photography, having just purchased my camera about a month ago. I would appreciate any and all advice on how to improve.

I went to the park yesterday to practice photographing flowers when this guy came by, so I took a quick pic. I cropped it to about 50%, but don't know if there is other processing that should be done. Ideas?

Should this be layed out differently?

Nikon D90 105mm (18-105 kit lens) ISO 200 F5.6 No Flash. Aperture Priority

Thanks

[AndrewPDX]

That's the best tip I can give any newbie to digital photography. Shoot in RAW. It allows you to make adjustments to shots that may not have been set properly. It won't save everything, but it'll do enough that you won't be constantly kicking yourself should you forget to make some minor tweak prior to shooting.

As for this particular shot, it's really solid from a compositional standpoint. Nice crop- the hummingbird is the focal point, despite being dwarfed by the large flowering plant. Still, the whites are a little blown out, the pink flowers aren't coming off as pretty as they should, and I'm not seeing enough green pop from the bird.

I found this article from KenRockwell.com that really helped improve the color in my shots. Check it out if you get a chance.

[jpainting]

Thanks so much for the critique. I certainly agree. I was particularly concerned that the bird was kind of drab. I did shoot it in RAW + jpg but used the jpg version. I will try to work with the RAW file to see what happens. Not exactly sure what to do... but I guess experimenting is one way of learning.
Thanks again

[jpainting]

I tried using the RAW file.

[PrimeTime]

The first thing you should do , is adjust the white balance. Next adjust the levels. You will do this for every image. I did a quick adjustment on the colors.