A Newbie

[Bateryman1970]

Hi

I am very new to photography, but am hooked!!

I love just seeing an moment in time and trying to capture it

Would welcome views on this picture, I know exposure etc aren’t great, but I love the shot with the bird in flight over the cliffs

All advice is welcomed, thats how you learn.....

Cheers

[RussHeath]

Nice capture! Hard to get all these things in the same photo: interesting foreground element, wildlife in action, and correct exposure for both. The bird is just a touch out of focus, but you did very well with what was likely a split second moment to capture this.

The sky behind the bird is blown out a bit. If you have a polarizing filter it can help with that a little for next time, although you have to weigh it against the fact that the slightly decreased light will cause you to either open your aperture or slow down your shutter speed. In this case, given that your shot was very fast I would say it would have benefited from a polarizer to cut the glare from the sky a little.

Below is my quick edit in elements. Just a little croping to make the bird more prominent and some slight color adjustment and sharpening. If you don't like people editing your photos, please let me know and I'll take it down. If you don't mind, consider putting a blanket "OK" statement in your signature.

[clockdoc]

Hi and welcome to the group. Overlooking the exposure per your request, my only observation would be to recrop such that the bird is not so centered, perhaps cropping off some of the left or right edge as see what works best. I looked at the photos in your Flickr account and was very impressed! I look forward to seeing more of your work here.

[Bateryman1970]

Hi

Many thanks for the replies and suggestions

No problem with you re touching my pics so with add this into my sig.

Thanks for looking at my pics on Flickr as well

As I say its early days yet but really enjoying it

Cheers

[subrataofkris]

You have good eyes for colour. I also went thru your portfolio in Flickr, its impressive for a beginner. My advice to you would be train your talent, see good photographs and read techniques so that you can understand why some of the shots are better than the rest. Browse through the blogs in this site, they are great. You can also visit luminous landscapes.

Photographs are not only about freezing moments but also to add your creativity to paint a picture through the camera.

Cheers

[Bateryman1970]

Hi Subrataofkris

Many thanks for the reply and looking at my pics and your compliment 

I am stating to read some books but there is some many to choose from, can you recommend any good one to read ?

Thanks for your time

Gareth

[phlyersphan]

Great catch! I love the colors on the cliffs, and even with the bird slightly out of focus, it's a great silhouette. I like newbie's crop of the photo, but other than that, kudos on the shot!

You mentioned books - I'm new too but am in love with photography I've been enjoying Scott Kelby's books. He has one on Digital Photography in general, then one on Photoshop and one on Lightroom. (I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones I'm reading or have read).

I'm also enjoying Learning to See Creatively: Design, Color & Composition in Photography by Bryan Peterson. This one is helping me to find my own perspective, with various exercises and things to try.

Finally - you might want to see if your particular camera has any third party field guides. I picked up the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi/400D Digital Field Guide by Charlotte K. Lowrie and find it to be much more helpful than the camera manual.

Good luck!