My first post

[jewels1281]

Hi,
I am beginner photographer with a new Nikon D3100 for my first DSLR.
I would like to put a pic from one of my first outings with my new camera on here and see what everyone thinks. My husand put it on here in the SYS section but I would like the critique.
Thanks everyone


Camera Nikon D3100
Exposure 1/4000 sec
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 55 mm
ISO Speed 1600
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash No Flash

[autofocus]

Welcome. Nice capture, and I'm sure some photo "old timers" would be happy to get

[gomer4378]

Great Shot, but I am bias cause Im the husband.

[gomer4378]

bump for some critique.

[Chip]

Welcome to DPS.

The wing position is great. And I also like that we can easily see the bird's eye. These are 2 very nice parts of the photo.

Also, good details in the feathers, and it seems that you were quite close when you pressed the shutter. Good job!

Now, for some recommendations (just my opinions, of course):

1) cropping the bottom of the photo to just below the tip of the wing would help us focus more on the bird and would remove an arguably distracting element (the bottom ducks) from the frame. Plus, we'd still have the 2 out of focus ducks for a sense of scale.

2) It seems that you were shooting during the middle of the day? I say this because the light looks somewhat harsh and looks to be coming down directly on top of the goose. Shooting early or late in the day can produce more pleasing lighting,

3) The shore line "cutting through" the goose is a bit distracting to me. I know this is a timing issue and likely sounds remarkably picky. But, details such as this do matter and help separate good photos from very good ones.

4) It's tough to have good exposure on birds (or on anything) with both black and white areas. Here, the whites are a bit blown out (over exposed). While some of this may possibly be fixable in post, often we must chose which tone (B or W) do we want correctly exposed , and set the camera accordingly ahead of time.

You're off to a very good start. Keep it up.

[jewels1281]

Thanks Chip

Here it is again with a little different crop and the exposure dropped a little.
Is it any better?

[Barbara V]

I like what you've done there.

[dvtldav]

Welcome to DPS.
I like the crop of the second one better but I think you went a little far in dropping the exposure. The first one was a little overexposed and I feel the second one is a little underexposed especially on the goose. In my opinion if you took the exposure of the goose in the fist photo and the exposure of everything else in the second photo then everything would look really good. If you are using LR, PS, or PSE that should be doable.
By the way, very nice shot.

Dave

[Chip]

Originally Posted by dvtldav

Welcome to DPS.
I like the crop of the second one better but I think you went a little far in dropping the exposure. The first one was a little overexposed and I feel the second one is a little underexposed especially on the goose. In my opinion if you took the exposure of the goose in the fist photo and the exposure of everything else in the second photo then everything would look really good. If you are using LR, PS, or PSE that should be doable.
By the way, very nice shot.

Dave

Agreed.