Pheasant on the road C&C

[cesal]

Well I'm new to the forum and looking for some opinions on my photography. I'm new to my Canon DSLR, I have only had a couple months and got a of learning to do. I was out and about and got some pictures of wild life the other day. Tell me what you think.

Pheasant

Turkey

Moose

 

[coastalconn]

Welcome to the forum!
1- The pheasant is the best of the three. None of your shots look very sharp. With birds, really try to get the eye in focus. Personally I would have framed it differently and had the pheasant on the right third looking into the empty space, if that makes sense. You did well by keeping the highlights under control and you have some subject isolation which is good...
2- guessing by the snow you probably had very little light, this resulted in either a high iso or a slow shutter speed which probably accounts for the lack of detail. It's hard to isolate a bird when it is so close to the background.
3- seeing wild moose must have been very exciting. Not much you can do when they are so far away.

You are off to a good start. It takes a lot of practice. Birds are really difficult because you have no control over them. They show up where they want and leave when they want. Ideally try to keep the sun (if there is any) behind you, it helps bring out detail in the feathers...

 

[cesal]

Thanks for your feedback. The pheasant was lucky to get on the side of the highway. I was surprised it even came out at all. The moose are all over the place around here if you know where to look, just wish they were closer to the road.

 

[cesal]

Here are couple other ones I took.

 

[WesternGuy]

Hi cesal and welcome to the forum. The only bit of advice I would give you, for now, is to number your images as you post them. This makes a lot easier for a reviewer to refer to them and the easier you make it for them, the more likely you are to get a response to your C&C request.

coastalconn has given you good advice and I do agree with what he has said. As for the last two that you have posted, the last one is probably the best of all the ones you have posted - it is sharp and all of the bird is in focus. One suggestion, you can get rid of the "reflections" off the water by using a circular polarizer on your lens - this will cost you a stop or two in exposure, but the results are often well worth the effort. Also, watch your cropping - in the first one, you have cropped off the last part of the tail - this detracts from any artistic value of your image. You might want to google "rule of thirds" regarding the placement of an object in an image.

The fourth one does absolutely nothing for me - most of it is out of focus. If you are going after head shots, try and shoot either from the front or the side and make sure that the eye(s) is/are in focus. If you are interested in bird photography, you may wish to have a look at Art Morris' site - Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART - as he is one of the best bird photographers there is (IMHO). There are also a number of other sites that cover bird photography and you can find a lot by googling "bird photography", for example, - http://digitalbirdphotography.com/cover.html. HTH.

WesternGuy

 

[cesal]

Thanks Western for the feedback. Yeah the fourth one is pretty bad, but the water droplets were what I was after. Should I have just cropped out the body? I plan on getting a polarize filter, just have to get back to work first.

 

[WesternGuy]

Thanks Western for the feedback. Yeah the fourth one is pretty bad, but the water droplets were what I was after. Should I have just cropped out the body? I plan on getting a polarize filter, just have to get back to work first.

Interesting, because to be honest, I did not notice the water drops until you pointed them out. My eyes went right to the "out of focus" back of the bird. Not sure about cropping out the body, maybe a different angle for the head. In wildlife photography, particularly birds, the eyes are considered by many to be the most important thing, they should be in focus (sharp and well defined) and have a catchlight, if at all possible. Hope your plans for the polarizer come true soon.

WesternGuy

 

[deeky]

Welcome to the forum. I have an uncle out in Deer Park. Didn't realize you have pheasants out there. You have a good start - keep working it. #2 particularly caught my attention, but only because of the unique coloring of the middle turkey. What can I say? As a fly tier, I kind of geek out on feathers.

 

[cesal]

Welcome to the forum. I have an uncle out in Deer Park. Didn't realize you have pheasants out there. You have a good start - keep working it. #2 particularly caught my attention, but only because of the unique coloring of the middle turkey. What can I say? As a fly tier, I kind of geek out on feathers.

Yeah we have pheasants everywhere. I use to tie flies years ago, but now I have a friend that ties them for me. Deer Park is 10 minutes from me.