My first bird photo. Anyone wanna try sprucing it up?

Tyguy35 · Dec 22, 2013

Hey took my first picture of a bird at work today after our ice storm. A woodpecker was working away on a tree down the street. This is the best picture i could find out of the 25 I took of the bird. Anyone willing to work some photoshop on it?

I had shutter at 500 f8 and 800 iso.

SCraig · Dec 22, 2013

Tyguy35 · Dec 22, 2013

Thanks looks good. Any tips for shooting birds shutter speed f stop etc

SCraig · Dec 22, 2013

Nope, you did pretty well with that one, especially since it was your first bird shot. Downy Woodpeckers are kind of tough to catch because they are so twitchy and you did well to catch one still like that.

Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO are always a balancing act and sometimes we have to settle for what we can get. When shooting birds shutter speed is very important. In my opinion more important than ISO or aperture. I like to keep my shutter speed between 1/1000 and 1/2000 but that isn't always possible (I shot some Wild Turkeys this morning at 1/20 second). When I can't get the shutter speed I want I open the aperture wide open and sacrifice depth of field, and then start raising the ISO some. Faster than 1/2000 is overkill much of the time so when I start getting that fast I start trading shutter speed for aperture or ISO.

For birds in flight I actually prefer a slightly slower shutter speed, somewhere around 1/500 second, since it allows the wingtips to blur some.

DarkShadow · Dec 22, 2013

I think you did well other then it needed a little tweak that SCraig had done. Good Job considering its not the easiest bird to capture. Welcome to Bird photography and Empty wallets.:er:

robbins.photo · Dec 22, 2013

Great shot!

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Tyguy35 · Dec 22, 2013

Thanks haha my pockets are already empty. I next need to purchase a telephoto lens any guidance to which type for a d7000? Thanks for the guidance that was the first out of ordinary bird I have seen in my area had to give it a shot. I will be going on my first Vacation to Costa Rica this feb so I need the practice.