Difficult subjects - and my fist critique request!

[architkataria]

Hi!

I went to a bird sanctuary recently, and managed to see only a few birds, that too at large distances. Realized how difficult it can be to shoot them even with a 70-300mm zoom lens. All the picture were taken at close to 300mm.

Also, this is the first time I tried some post-processing on my pictures; just crop and some color correction.

Please give your comments and provide suggestions for improvement.

This was perhaps the only bird that let me change my camera settings before letting me take its picture.

Camera:	Canon EOS 450D
Exposure:	0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture:	f/5.6
Focal Length:	300 mm
ISO Speed:	400

Thanks!

[Chip]

I use a borrowed 70-300mm for bird photography, too - isn't it amazing how inadequate 300mm can be at time??

For this shot, given that the bird was in the shade and the sky is so bright, I think you did well. The bird, though, still seems just a bit underexposed. Could you possibly lighten the whole photo just a bit, or maybe even select the owl and lighten just that?

And this comment is one based on personal taste, but I tend to not bump up the saturation much at all for wildlife photos. So, to me, the saturation here is a little too much.

Good work. Photographing birds in mixed light isn't easy.

Now, you just need to save up and buy a fast 400 mm prime!

[thenunsofgaborone]

You can always use the flash to light the subject when the light is behind it, this will also light the eye making it look more alive. You can also use the spot metering on you camera so that it looks at exposing the subject rather than image as a whole.

There seems to be some severe colour fringing (purpley and green colour) on the branches behind this might something caused by the lens. You can remove or reduce this in Photoshop or similar application.

What settings did you use on your camera? There isn't any EXIF data here.

Not a bad job though and as for getting close to birds you'll have to practise your Ninja techniques even with a big lens (Perhaps the Sigma 50-500mm lens might be a more reasonably priced start).

[architkataria]

Originally Posted by Chip

I use a borrowed 70-300mm for bird photography, too - isn't it amazing how inadequate 300mm can be at time??

For this shot, given that the bird was in the shade and the sky is so bright, I think you did well. The bird, though, still seems just a bit underexposed. Could you possibly lighten the whole photo just a bit, or maybe even select the owl and lighten just that?

And this comment is one based on personal taste, but I tend to not bump up the saturation much at all for wildlife photos. So, to me, the saturation here is a little too much.

Good work. Photographing birds in mixed light isn't easy.

Now, you just need to save up and buy a fast 400 mm prime!

Thanks, so much, for your comments.

Yes, 300mm surprisingly starts to seem less when it comes to taking pictures of birds! The first thing after the bird sanctuary that I did on having internet access was checking out the prices of higher telephoto lenses. Well, to my dismay, I'll have to wait rather quite long for them

I'm absolutely new to photo post-processing. Will surely learn and try how to selectively lighten a portion of an image. Thanks again!

[Chip]

gunsofnabarone makes a great point about using flash. It is effective in this type of situation, and not too difficult to learn. Birds don't seem to mind (for some reason) as long as you aren't right on top of them.

[architkataria]

Originally Posted by thenunsofgaborone

You can always use the flash to light the subject when the light is behind it, this will also light the eye making it look more alive. You can also use the spot metering on you camera so that it looks at exposing the subject rather than image as a whole.

There seems to be some severe colour fringing (purpley and green colour) on the branches behind this might something caused by the lens. You can remove or reduce this in Photoshop or similar application.

What settings did you use on your camera? There isn't any EXIF data here.

Not a bad job though and as for getting close to birds you'll have to practise your Ninja techniques even with a big lens (Perhaps the Sigma 50-500mm lens might be a more reasonably priced start).

Originally Posted by Chip

gunsofnabarone makes a great point about using flash. It is effective in this type of situation, and not too difficult to learn. Birds don't seem to mind (for some reason) as long as you aren't right on top of them.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I believe spot metering could have helped me here. In this situation, I am unsure if (at least my camera in-built) flash could have helped, as the owl was quite far off. Well, I think I'll have to go there again to try using my flash on the owl. Given that this bird was blind when I took its shots, I could have tried different settings, including using my flash :-|
Thanks, again!

[thenunsofgaborone]

You can change the intensity of even your built in flash in one of the red camera menus I think if the 450D is similar to the 400D its on the second menu. All you need in a little more light.

[MSidPhoto]

Good shot, but yes there is a bit of lack of lighting ...