A few recent birds.

pedalpics · Mar 8, 2012

Just figured I would share a few of my better shots as of recent. I am realizing that I am horrible at editing my shots though and need an extreme amount learning before it gets better. CC Welcome

Summer Tanager.

Coopers Hawk near the house.

Morning Doves in the yard. Never can seem to get them to turn and look my way. They always insist on having theirs backs to me though I guess thats easier for them to fly off away from me if need be.

And unfortunately the best HB shot out of the lot. Broad-Billed Hummingbird. Shot with my flash on.

pedalpics · Mar 12, 2012

No love?

cgipson1 · Mar 12, 2012

#1 would have been nicer with a vertical format or crop... underexposed also.

#2 which is the subject, the street sign or the raptor? Pick one.. crop to emphasize....

#3 ... doves are a pain sometimes.. wont face you, or they keep a branch between you and them... lol!

#4 undexposed badly... fairly sharp on head and eyes though... nice wing blur.

PixelRabbit · Mar 12, 2012

Hi Pedal

the forum can be brutal sometimes, threads passed up for reasons I've yet to figure out lol
You have some nice birds around. I'm going to keep this kinda short and sweet because I'm on my iPod and it takes me forever to type stuff

I like the Mourning Doves, nice focus and exposure. I would crop more in on the right for her to look into, it feels chopped off on the right with the current crop.

1 and 4 Need more light, the background looks nicely lit in 1 but he is in the shadow, wait for him to find the light or you move around so the light is over your shoulder and on your subject.

All of them would benefit from different crops. A general rule for crops that aren't tight is give room in the direction they are facing for them to look/move into.

Eyes are soooo important in wildlife shots, get that eye lit up. When I'm sorting my shots if the eye is in shadow it is rejected 99% of the time.

Keep shooting! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next time !

cgipson1 · Mar 12, 2012

what do you think of these?

Crop, Lighter, and fake catchlight his eye

crop and lighter

much lighter

pedalpics · Mar 12, 2012

Thanks guys and gals helps a bunch. Really trying to grasp the processing part of the photo world. Always learn more by trying and then getting them picked apart.

pedalpics · Mar 13, 2012

Charlie may I also ask what you used to edit the shots? I have LR and am gonna work on just seeing if I can edit mine close to what you did. Really like the coolers on the HB shot wish he was looking the other way though.

Joel_W · Mar 13, 2012

Charlie, you sure saved the day. Your edits are darn near perfect.

cgipson1 · Mar 13, 2012

pedalpics said:
Charlie may I also ask what you used to edit the shots? I have LR and am gonna work on just seeing if I can edit mine close to what you did. Really like the coolers on the HB shot wish he was looking the other way though.

I used Photoshop CS5... I just prefer to do most of my editing there!

You can do it with just about any photo editor though!