New here!

a.stanton51 · Apr 18, 2010

Hey everyone, As the title says, I'm new here. I'm looking to get more into nature and wildlife photography. Pretty much just looking for constructive criticism and to learn new things. Here are a few pictures I took recently on a trip to the zoo. Again criticism is welcome!

For anyone wondering what type of bird that is, I'm not entirely sure. There was no sign or display or anything about it. It was like a small Emu or Ostrich though.

a.stanton51 · Apr 18, 2010

well.... it seems as though I managed to miss the fact that there is an introduction section of the forums. Forgive me on that.

marmots · Apr 18, 2010

what iso did you shoot these at, they're pretty noisy

cnutco · Apr 18, 2010

Welcome!

a.stanton51 · Apr 18, 2010

@Marmots , Not exactly sure, I'm still very new (just started getting interested in photography about a month ago) so you'll have to bear with me as I try to answer any questions. As far as what it was shot at, I had the camera set on one of the auto settings, which admittedly probably has a lot to do with the noise. What would you recommend I shoot at as far as wildlife/ outdoor? Like I said i'm here to learn.

a.stanton51 · Apr 18, 2010

@ Marmots , Ok so I checked through the settings on my camera and the ISO was set incredibly high (1600). I set it down to 250 and, just doing some comparison shots in my room, it makes a huge difference. Thank you for pointing that out to me. It almost makes me want to take the hour ride back to the zoo to try and redo those pictures.

D-B-J · Apr 18, 2010

Welcome to tpf!

TJ K · Apr 18, 2010

Welcome. I would say when shooting wildlife you're going to want to use continuous autofocus and probably shoot in Aperture Priority A or Av for canon. What type of camera do you have? Overall the shots aren't too bad at least you took composition into consideration and didn't just put the whole animal in the center of the frame. Look forward to seeing you around here.
TJ