Robin at birdbath - composition + anything else?

[STB]

Hi all,
I'm brand-new to the forums and to taking my digital photography more seriously than I have in the past. It's not that I want to make money at it, I just want to learn how to get the best shots I can of the wildlife that visits my yard (and the plants.) I've recently converted my garden to native plants and a wildlife habitat so I want to be able to take shots good enough to share on my website to help convince other people they should go native too!

I'm using a Nikon P500 because I fell for the SuperZoom and I'm intimidated at this point, by a lot of the fancier cameras. I figure once I learn how to get the most out of the camera, I'll be ready for something more.

I'm new enough to not really know what to ask except that I am grateful for all tips on how to improve. Right now I'm trying to shoot at least 100 pictures a day.





I didn't know what EXIF data to include so I just put it all in. The only post processing I did was auto fix and crop.


Exif data
Camera Nikon Coolpix P500
Exposure 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture f/5.7
Focal Length 144 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
X-Resolution 1
Y-Resolution 1
Software picnik.com
Date and Time (Modified) 2012:01:10 13:32:50
YCbCr Positioning Centered
Exposure Program Program AE
Date and Time (Original) 2012:01:10 13:32:50
Date and Time (Digitized) 2012:01:10 13:32:50
Max Aperture Value 3.4
Metering Mode Multi-segment
Light Source Unknown
Color Space sRGB
Custom Rendered Normal
Exposure Mode Auto
White Balance Auto
Digital Zoom Ratio 0
Scene Capture Type Standard
Gain Control Low gain up
Contrast Normal
Saturation Normal
Sharpness Normal
Subject Distance Range Unknown
Maker Note Version 2.00
ISO 0
Color Mode Color
Quality Fine
White Balance Auto
Sharpness Auto
Focus Mode AF-S
White Balance Fine Tune 0
ISOSelection Auto
Data Dump (Binary data 8918 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Active D- Lighting Normal
Image Adjustment Auto
Tone Comp Auto
Manual Focus Distance undef
Digital Zoom 1
AFArea Mode Single Area
AFPoint Center
AFPoints In Focus Center
Saturation 0
Noise Reduction Off
Retouch History None
Image Optimization Normal
Image Stabilization VR-HYBRID
Compression JPEG (old-style)
XResolution 300
YResolution 300
Resolution Unit inches
Preview Image Start 11312
Preview Image Length 0
YCb Cr Positioning Co-sited
Compression JPEG (old-style)
XMPToolkit Image::ExifTool 8.18
Creator Tool picnik.com

[Zabet]

I am also a beginner but I would kick up the color a couple notches. Just enough to get the most out of that beautiful red breast.

[KurtM]

I want to see his face.

My first piece of advice to any budding bird photog is to look at lots and lots of top bird photography, then lapse into deep dark hopelessness when you see how fantastically better they are than you'll ever be. Then resist the temptation to throw your gear into the trash can, and encourage yourself to try like the dickens to match, then surpass them someday, anyway.

Bird photography is about as tough as it gets, but shooting backyard birds is relatively easy; thus it is an excellent place to start. I also love habitat yards, I keep a city lot managed specifically with urban wildlife in mind, and enjoy it quite a lot every day. So hooray to you for spreading the word!

It is the nature of all animals, humans included, to zero in on the eyes first when beholding another animal. Therefore, I see it as a First Rule to focus on the eye(s), and make sure it's featured with direct lighting, or I reject the photo no matter how well everything else came out. There are exceptions, I suppose, but I can't remember what any of 'em are....

If you or anyone else wants a list of some of my favorite flickr photostreams for stunning bird photography that's sure to depress .... I mean, inspire .... you, just PM me.

And be sure to scour DPS for interesting threads and articles like these:

I found the BEST way to photograph birds!!!

How to Photograph Birds

Bird Photography Near Feeders

[Hill Country Hack]

Glad you are willing to learn and improve. As stated, birding can be a challenge. As for the required EXIF, all that is really needed is apeture, shutter speed, ISO, focal length and any lighting (flash) used and location of flash(s).

As for compostion, you have the bird slightly right of center- good thing. The bird is looking into the uper left portion. A crop with a little more negative space in the upper left for the bird to look into would be better. You can crop tighter if the image allows, i.e. not get too grainy.

A rule to not break if handholding (unless you are very, very good and have great hand holding technique) is to maintain a 1:1 or better ratio of shutter speed to focal length. You shot at 144mm focal length with a shutter speed of 1/60. I'm sure the slight fuzziness is due to camera shake (provided you were handholding). If using a tripod, then the rule can be bent.

Your apeture was a bit open and depending on several factors your Depth of Field (DOF) can get pretty narrow. Because of that, it is important to focus the eyes (as stated earlier).

You said you goal is 100 photos a day. That is commendable, but how about going for quality. Take a shot, self critique, apply lesson learned, repeat. There is no use of taking 50 shots with the same errors.

[STB]

I took another go at same shot with post-processing.


@Zabet - Thanks. I upped the colors this go 'round.

@KurtM - Haha on seeing his face. I have some others of him with his face turned to me but I really liked that curve of him looking back. Kurt, I really appreciate all you said. I do look at those stunning bird photographs and think wow - I'll never do that, but then I remind myself that I am not trying to get into National Geographic magazine. I'll PM you for that list to study though. I'll start practicing on trying to focus on the eyes.

@Hill Country Hack - Ooh such great info. Thank you. I'm soaking it all up. I see your point about going for quality shots over quantity. Right now I am still in the "getting to know my camera" phase so I am taking a lot of shots just to understand what things do. I took another go at post-processing and recropped with your suggestion. I think I do like it better because you can see the shadowy trees in the background.

I was absolutely handholding and shakey. A friend loaned me a tripod but getting the camera on and off is a pain in the backside so I need to start reading up on tripods and find something more convenient.

All the settings were on auto so I will go read up more on the focal length and other things you mentioned.

I appreciate the feedback so much. Thank you all. Back to studying.

[KurtM]

Tripods are good, but don't neglect your hand-holding practice. Bird photography in particular tends to be intolerant of tripods and monopods 'cuz the inconsiderate little stinkers never wanna hold still for us.

[STB]

Good point on the tripods, Kurt. Mostly I wanted to get off a couple of decent shots on the tripod so I could evaluate the picture quality, minus my shake. Dealing with the tripod took a lot of the fun out of it for me (one more reason I'm not working toward a pro status.) I have 3 water features in the yard, 2 in the back and 1 in the front. I like to be able to grab the camera when I hear activity and go to the window and start shooting. (Yes, so far all my shots have been through glass.)

[Hill Country Hack]

Nice job with the PP. I'm glad you like the re crop. For fun, crop with the bird more to the left side of the frame and look at how the entire feel of the image changes.

+1 on the tripod not very useful for birding. I was trying to give suggestions to help with the camrea shake. http://www.digital-photography-schoo...e-3-techniques

The suggestion off of another of your posts about forget using the LCD and use the viewfinder. There may be a small wheel at the viewfinder to change the dioper of the view finder so you can adjust it to your eye.

[STB]

aah - will go read more on the shake technique link. Thank you, Hill Country Hack. I know I'm always going to have a certain amount of shake with the handheld due to an old shoulder injury so I'm in for all the anti-shake tips I can get.

Here's another crop with the bird as far to the left as I can go without losing his tail. There's not much space left to the right because I cut out the tall, ugly drip tube that fills the bird bath.

[Hill Country Hack]

I hope you can see the bird looks more cramped in this image compared to the one with more negative space in the upper left.

I tend to shoot a bit "loose", as in leave more space while framing to leave me more options while cropping. Others like to compose in the frame as they want to see the final product. I have trouble with that while shooting birds. As stated, they usually don't sit still too long so one has to get what they can and crop to personal taste.