Good Thing I've Got a Backyard

[baturn]

Some C&C would be appreciated on these, as I am trying a couple of new things in post. So, super critical please.

 

[sm4him]

Looks like you had some pretty harsh lighting to deal with. Wouldn't be so bad, except for the shadows cast by branches on the birds in two of the photos.
The second one is my favorite; that one's really nice!
The first one looks a little soft to me. The last one, the goldfinch, I like except for the OOF branch in the foreground. Not always anything you can do about those branches, and normally I don't worry about them, but that one really distracts me for some reason. Maybe because the buds on it already make it more noticeable than it might typically be, and then being out of focus adds to the distraction.

 

[BillM]

For the first one a little more dof would be good to get both sharp

For #2 the pose is great but as already mentioned it was shot in really harsh sunlight so it is a little void of detail

For #3 the hard shadow across the body really hurts.


Hope that helps :thumbup:

 

[baturn]

Thank you both. I think I'm so used to those shadows I don't even notice until they are pointed out. I will try to be more observant. I think my life style leaves me either mid morning or midafternoon for shooting. Now that the weather is getting nicer I will put some effort into shooting both earlier and later. Neither of you mentioned anything I did, or could have done better, in post. Is that a good thing?

 

[TheNevadanStig]

I've never done this, but hey, I'm bored. Also a noob, so regard this with caution.
I would have tried to fight off the lighting a bit, and bring out the colors a tad more.

 

[dxqcanada2 2]

Lighting a bit harsh so you need some more PP.
... and I agree with the shadow comments.

I cropped and changed to an S curve
https://www.google.ca/search?q=phot...A&sqi=2&ved=0CEEQsAQ&biw=1324&bih=765&dpr=0.9

 

[baturn]

Thanks guys. Both are better. This is what I need , especially for pp. I'm really not sure how far to push things or when to leave them alone. I think I'll spend some time just pushing sliders around to see exactly what they do. As for cropping - this particular shot was already cropped pretty aggressively so I was afraid to take it any further.
Thank you all again. I will endeavour to persevere.