Songbird at sundown

[FocalFrenzy]

I took this shot yesterday evening because this fellow was singing his head off. I wish he had made his presence known earlier in the day, (when the lighting was better). I intentionally under-exposed because I feared blowing out the overcast sky. Did I do wrong? I shot this handheld, so I expected some blurring (and wasn't disappointed). I'm actually pleased with how clear he is. I'm just wondering if I should have set my exposure differently. I know that there are alot of "Bird Shooters" on this forum, so I'm hoping to get some helpful info for these "Off the cuff" type of shots. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking.:D


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21002727@N06/2298461243/"
title="Cardinal Male 1 by FocalFrenzy, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2177/2298461243_288e6ccf46.jpg" width="451" height="500" alt="Cardinal Male 1" /></a>
Camera: Sony DSC-H1
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 72 mm
ISO Speed: 64
Exposure Bias: -3/10 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

X-Resolution: 72 dpi
Y-Resolution: 72 dpi
Software: Picasa 3.0
Date and Time: 2008:02:27 17:35:44

[mhusiak]

I'm no bird shooter, but your image looks pixelated. You said that you reached the limit of your zoom. Did you use digital zoom? If you did, that will explain the pixelated look. Digital zoom blows up and distorts the image, loosing quality in the process.

As far as lighting, the bird is a tad under exposed. I'm sure if the picture wasn't so distorted it would be easier to see more detail and the underexposure wouldn't matter.

[peeperita]

thanks for a thought filled presentation for critique.....

i think your exposure was good given the lighting conditions that you were working with....any less exposed and your subject would have been far too dark and you would have lost his beautiful red......same for the sky, had you overexposed even a little more for your subject, the blues would have been totally lost.....

one thing that i consider when my image is to include a goodly portion of sky is which direction i'm facing at what time of day......i want to shoot into the darkest sector of the sky.....east if it's late afternoon......west if it's morning......south i steer away from if possible......and north is generally a safer direction at either hour.....

i've seen this pixelation in another of your bird shots, so i went to both your flicker site and the spec sheet for your camera.....i may be wrong, but i am in agreement with the previous poster that i feel you used your digital zoom in conjuction with your optical zoom.....the max focul length of your lens is 72mm and i can understand why you would be tempted to shoot with the digital zoom too......it's difficult to get a good sized bird in your frame when you can't exactly be sitting in the tree with him......

some of this pixelation can be repaired in post work.....but, i am afraid i know so very little about the ins and outs of picasa.....if there is a blur tool or two, it is possible to reduce this "noise" in your blue field with a little experimentation with it.....if you can get this field smoother without blurring out the branches or the bird too much, you can come back with a sharpen tool to tighten up the edges.....

i am sooo long winded.....

thanks for offering this shot....

peeper