I am a newbie with a few questions.

[thud]

I am a newbie.. I mean, I have been taking pictures for over 10 years but.. I'm sure you understand how that is... I am looking to go beyond the "AUTO" feature. LOL

So here's the thing. I am absolutely in love with this photographers pictures. Most recently she took a picture of some wedding rings in a nest that looks amazing. I hope you don't mind me posting a link to the picture I am referring to - its the first image on this post:
http://labellavitablog.com/2010/06/07/georgianna-and-andrew/ I dont want to post her work without her permission so you'll have to view it on her blog.

We happen to have some active bird nests within our car port so I decided to give it a shot...

I am not 100% satisfied with the results and I have absolutely no idea what I am doing wrong...

Can I get some constructive criticism please?

In my opinion, the last one seems to be the best but... I just feel like it could be better... I don't know where to go from here.

 

[D-B-J]

what setting? i dnt have an exif veiwer, so i cannot tell. The images look a little blurry.

 

[thud]

I used manual focus instead of automatic. I focused on the eggs which is why the nest is a bit blurry I suppose...

This program I have on my mac says that following about the third picture:

 

[Jeff Colburn]

What is it that you don't like about the images? It helps to know what you want to achieve with a photograph so you have some ideas of what's not working.

Have Fun,
Jeff

 

[thud]

Well I just think my pictures look so amateur... I want them to look professional and right now they just look ordinary. In the example I provided above (wedding photos), you can see that the nest has quite a bit of contrast and just looks amazing to me I suppose. Hmm...

 

[thud]

Is it the camera that is holding me back? I have a Canon G10 (14.7mp) and a Nikon D80.

 

[vtf]

Welcome to the forum. You shot at a low aperature(av) 2.8, the smaller the number the shorter DOF you've got. Not wrong here I think but the lighting is blowing out the upper left, its way to harsh. Try taking it at a different time of day when the light is not so direct and the nest is more in overall shade and maybe use a flash if needed. If you want a greater distant background in your shot raise the AV up but the lower I think works here. Work with it but please dont disturb the nest. Just my opinion being a noob myself.

 

[Stormchase]

I dont know a lot about lighting but i see a difference between yours and the blogs. The wall or sky is blown out pretty bad and it looks to be a little shake in the shot. Did you have a stabilizer of any kind? Also like mentioned above try a diff time of day, fill flash, reflector? It looked like the blogs one had a silver reflector in the front of it to light it up in and otherwise dark lit area.they have light behind and in front. I might be totaly off on this tho and others can give a better idea for ya.

 

[ghpham]

You might want to check out the book "Understanding Exposure". I will help you immensely with your photographs.

Review the information you presented on #3:

1. Your shutter speed is 1/4; This is a very slow shutter speed
2. Your aperture is 2.8; This is known as "wide open" meaning you let alot of light into the camera sensor.
3. Your ISO (sensor sensitivity) is 320 (setting depend on available light. The darker the scene, the higher this number will need to be).

Item 2 above is what causing part of nest to be out of focus (a natural occurence). The rest of the photo is not tack sharp is because your shutter speed is too slow.

You also tried manual focusing. Do you wear glasses per chance? There is a setting for the viewfinder that you would need to correct if you wear glasses.

Were you setting your aperture and your shutter speed manually?