I've Got My Eyes on You

[A Team]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladesign/2308601969/" title="I've Got My Eyes on You by A Team1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2325/2308601969_f53a0986eb.jpg" width="500" height="481" alt="I've Got My Eyes on You" /></a>

Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 90 mm
ISO Speed: 640
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV

This photo was taken at the Minnesota Zoo. The admission was pretty pricey, but I was able to take lots of photos. Unfortunately, I was only happy with a few, including this one. My biggest lesson was that I probably do not want to use my fixed focus macro lens for moving subjects!

I am really trying to work on the Rule of Thirds (still). Can you tell me if you think my cropping was good on this, or would you crop differently? I'm also open to any other type of critques you may have. Thanks for taking the time to looking at my photo.

[windrider86]

Honestly I think his head/eyes are the main focal point so with that being said I think its tail is in competition for attention.

[Geodar]

The head & eyes are spot on but the tail suffers from blur/movement and is a distraction, also the background suffers from 'too much happening' with the bright green leaf, tree, dark line and white out of focus what ever they are.
I know how hard it is to shoot birds (& wildlife in general). You have to get what you can and put up with the situations where they are. Overall this is a reasonable shot and you have focused on where you should, the head & eyes.
The rules of thirds as a standard rule works well but remember as a rule it can be broken, and at time's should be broken.
Try different angles when shooting, using slight clucking noises (or similar) to attract the animals attention so they look at you (camera) or in your direction. You don't need to be full face on, try to shoot them with an over the shoulder pose or side face on, mouths/beaks open work well. Using a zoom lens means you can get close in and crop out the distracting backgrounds, try head & shoulder shots.
What I have done is to crop just above the head and cloned out the distracting background then used the healing tool to try and tone/blend the background. Adjusted ever so slightly levels which helped to darken the bird and bring out a little more detail.
Regards
Geoff

[A Team]

Thanks Windrider and Geodar for the wonderful tips. I have a lot to learn!

Geodar, I like the edits that you have made, and will try this with my own.


Thanks.

Linda