Backyard Birds

bored2tears

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I am new to photography (I have had this camera for only 5 days so far), but with each day, I feel like I am improving. I took one thousand shots so far, and I liked only about 100 of them. I felt that only 3 of the shots were good enough to be posted on here, so please, any critique and ways to improve will be appreciated.



1.) This bird (if anyone could identify it for me, I would be happy), landed basically right next to me. I wanted to get a better shot and incorporate the bird's full body, but it flew away as I zoomed out.

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2.) I was a little disappointed that the blue jay wasn't fully focused, but still, I was happy with this flying shot.

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3.) I do not know why, but I really like this shot. It may only be me, that is.

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4.) I think this was a house sparrow, although I am not sure. I think it allowed me to get so close to it sees me everyday (or perhaps it is happy that I built it a bird house).

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(None of these images went through post processing. I am more focused on improving my skills before I start to edit them.)
 
I am new to photography ....
(None of these images went through post processing. I am more focused on improving my skills before I start to edit them.)

And there lies your problem. Most DSLR's are not set to produce snappy, sharp images by default. Generally, they will be a bit soft. That is to allow you to make the choices on your own.

You can't ignore processing and hope to improve because without knowing what the final results are, you don't know what is a throwaway or what is a keeper.

FWIW, it looks like you missed focus on most of these. For me, I think #3 could create a nice shot with a bit of editing.

Regardless, if you want people to spend time on C&C, the least you could do is spend some time on processing to make the images look their best. If you're unsure about that, post the before and afters, but every DSLR image needs some processing.
 
Sorry, I didn't know that post processing was usually required. What programs would you recommend that are free? Would GIMP be a good enough program?
 
Sorry, I didn't know that post processing was usually required. What programs would you recommend that are free? Would GIMP be a good enough program?

Gimp is free and is often touted as a photoshop alternative. My recommendation would be to download the Photoshop Elements free trial. You can use it for 45 days, figure out if it's something you want to use, and then make a purchasing decision. FWIW, after that 45 days, you can download the free trial for Photoshop CS5 for the same amount of time. After that, you can download the free trial for lighroom. That gives you about 4 and a half months to decide what works best for you at no charge.
 
Ah, I didn't think about doing that with the free trials. Tomorrow, my uncle is going to fix up my computer, because I had a virus, and I guess it won't totally remove, as my computer is running extremely slow.

Since I am new, can you give some tips on what I should do to the third picture? I know I probably will crop it, and I will try to sharpen up the jay, but what else should be done to it?
 

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