Scarlet Tanager

[TonyG]

I took this photo back in 02 with an Olympus C700
I like taking Wildlife photos, but as you can see the bird here came out a bit blurry. Probably due to the fact that the ISO was set to 800. A lot of the time I'm taking photos in the woods, deep shade, and moving subjects yet I can't seem to get the clarity that I want in the photos. I've moved up in Camera's to a Canon S5-IS over Christmas. I'd like to be able to take better photos of moving subjects (wildlife) in dark settings (woods/shade/twilight) with no flash but can't seem to get the settings right. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to look at this.
http://<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/22171849@N08/2132531418/" title="scarlet tan2 by toneebear, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2212/2132531418_e0a05007ce.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="scarlet tan2" /></a>

[Sandie]

I wish I could give you more feedback on the 'dark area, moving subject' questions...I just asked few like that in another thread of my own :) However, I wanted to say I really like the way your red bird looks against the bare branches. I think compositionally, s/he would look even better if you cropped the branch on the left side totally out and trimmed a bit off the bottom. The left side branch might be tricky to do without loosing some of the tail, but it is worth it because by being out of focus, so big and just about on a third line, it really commands a lot of attention. Maybe some creative cloning or edging would help.

I really like the shot though.

[windrider86]

That bright bird certainly stands out int he winter brush. I do think that because of tis tiny size its lost a inthe vast amount of surrounding brush. You may want to try and cop it down a little.
all in all is a good shot tho. Good eye

[xxpinballxx]

NIce contrast but I would crop bottom left and flip photo.
the colors are great and bird seems reasonably sharp.

[TonyG]

Thanks for all the replies to my post. I noticed that on some of the posts that I've viewed, that some people are posting the "properties" of their pics, ie fstop, exposure time etc that is part of the digital footprint. When I've attempted to copy and paste that here, I can't. I'm running XP pro. Is there some way to do that other than copy & paste?
Thanks,
Tony

[jiminyClickit]

TonyG,

If you get the box from "Properties," treat it like a photo, save it, upload it to Flickr, and place it in your thread. But it would be so much simpler to write down the few numbers and type it along with your specific question and other information. Possible?

[TonyG]

Jim,
Thanks for the quick reply. In taking the above photo my exposure time was 1/200, F/3.5, and ISO-800, Focal Length 58mm. I took that photo with an Olympus C700UZ, digital zoom off. The picture just doesn't have the "crispness" that I would have liked. Can someone give me some pointers on what I should have changed in my settings? I've upgraded my camera to a Canon S5-IS.
Thanks,
Tony

[netbymatt]

You've captured a great picture!

Moving subjects, no flash and low light is rather tricky. First, I'm not sure how your subjects are moving. Are you trying to catch a bird in mid-flight, or are you concerned that the bird would, for example, turn it's head while you're taking the picture? I ask because the image stabilization in your camera is not designed for use while panning the camera (bird in flight), so you may want to turn it off if that's what you're doing. But with either case, the faster the shutter speed you can use, the better. Next, you need to have your aperture as wide as it goes so enough light hits the sensor during the short time the shutter is open. Finally you'll probably need to turn up the ISO so you can get a bright enough exposure even though you're in low light.

[Jen473]

I don't really have anything to add by way of critique, I just wanted to say beautiful bird and great shot!

[TonyG]

Thank you for the replies, and thank you netbyMatt for the feed forward. I'm more concerned with the bird turning it's head, so I take it with those shots I should leave the stabilization on.

Thanks,
Tony