Seeking CC on first few bird shots

[CaptainNapalm]

Hi everyone,
I'm still relatively a beginner and I've just recently gotten into wildlife photography and this is my first real attempt at shooting birds (where I actually went out to find some birds and photograph them). I've found it to be more challenging then I expected and I'm quickly learning how moving objects (especially fast bouncing ones like birds) are a real challenge. This is the first time I started really using different focus options in my camera as the auto focus setting was hunting around and getting confused between branches and subjects. I shot these a couple of hours before sunset in a park with my D7000 and 70-300mm lens. All were shot in the 200-300mm range in manual mode (no flash). I had my ISO set to 400, aperture 5-6 range, and adjusted shutter appropriately to make the correct exposure. For post processing, I did some cropping, colour/sharpness/contrast adjustments, and I adjusted highlights to bring out some details in the shadows. I would really appreciate some feedback on these. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[coastalconn]

They look great. Good exposure and the birds look sharp. You even caught a good catch light in most of them. The next step it the nit-picking like the OOF branches in 1 and 2. It is really hard to get clean shots of these little critters. I like the nuthatch the best. I personally am not a fan of man made objects in bird pictures and try not to include them if possible, but I like the background in the last one the best.

 

[CaptainNapalm]

They look great. Good exposure and the birds look sharp. You even caught a good catch light in most of them. The next step it the nit-picking like the OOF branches in 1 and 2. It is really hard to get clean shots of these little critters. I like the nuthatch the best. I personally am not a fan of man made objects in bird pictures and try not to include them if possible, but I like the background in the last one the best.

Thank you. Yeah the branches do bother me also ill work on that for next time. I guess it will be much harder once these trees fully bloom with leaves in the next month, there will be lots of obstructions to hide these birds. Thanks for your input, I appreciate it

 

[SCraig]

I agree with Kris. Excellent exposure and sharpness. I think the last one would be better cropped a bit more so that the feeder was out of the shot and the bird was just standing on a piece of plywood. The shot of the dove also has a good bit of chromatic aberration on the limb on the left side of the shot. Frequently for the worst out-of-focus branches, such as the two at the very top of the dove shot, I'll just clone them out and be done with them.

Birds are difficult. Much more difficult than people who don't shoot them realize. They will not cooperate and sit still, they will not face the proper direction, and they insist on getting in among limbs and leaves. Getting a good, clean shot is challenging but when we do it just makes the feeling of accomplishment better. These are very good, keep at it and enjoy the challenge.

 

[baturn]

What the other guys said and yes, as the trees leaf out it gets more difficult to both find and photograph song birds.

 

[CaptainNapalm]

I agree with Kris. Excellent exposure and sharpness. I think the last one would be better cropped a bit more so that the feeder was out of the shot and the bird was just standing on a piece of plywood. The shot of the dove also has a good bit of chromatic aberration on the limb on the left side of the shot. Frequently for the worst out-of-focus branches, such as the two at the very top of the dove shot, I'll just clone them out and be done with them.

Birds are difficult. Much more difficult than people who don't shoot them realize. They will not cooperate and sit still, they will not face the proper direction, and they insist on getting in among limbs and leaves. Getting a good, clean shot is challenging but when we do it just makes the feeling of accomplishment better. These are very good, keep at it and enjoy the challenge.

Thanks for the input. I will try to clone out some distracting branches. I'm gonna give cropping the last pic another try, it's already heavily cropped so I fear doing so more will make the photo too small. Appreciate the feedback!

 

[SCraig]

Thanks for the input. I will try to clone out some distracting branches. I'm gonna give cropping the last pic another try, it's already heavily cropped so I fear doing so more will make the photo too small. Appreciate the feedback!

Stuff I post on the internet I normally resize to 800 x 533. That's obviously too small for a decent print but for a web shot it works fine.

 

[WesternGuy]

I agree with the comments so far. The only thing I would add is that you have centred each of these (well maybe not quite the last one) and a centred subject tends to be very static. A better composition is to have the bird in the left or right third of the image so that it is looking (or flying) into the "negative space" in the other two-thirds of the image. You can Google rule of thirds and bird photography, but maybe have a look at this one - Secrets of Digital Bird Photography. I would also suggest that you consider numbering your images - this makes it a lot easier for a reviewer to refer to any one image. HTH.

WesternGuy

 

[CaptainNapalm]

I agree with the comments so far. The only thing I would add is that you have centred each of these (well maybe not quite the last one) and a centred subject tends to be very static. A better composition is to have the bird in the left or right third of the image so that it is looking (or flying) into the "negative space" in the other two-thirds of the image. You can Google rule of thirds and bird photography, but maybe have a look at this one - Secrets of Digital Bird Photography. I would also suggest that you consider numbering your images - this makes it a lot easier for a reviewer to refer to any one image. HTH.

WesternGuy

Thanks! Ill keep that in mind for next time. Maybe I'll crop these a bit better

 

[samm]

I like the way they came out .Keep up the good shooting .Birding to me is an awsome way to spend a day in the woods with camera in hand .I hunt with a camera myself ,instead of using a gun i shoot a camera.

That dove sure pegged you .nice shot on the look out .:thumbup::thumbup:

 

[HL45]

#3 is my favorite of the set! Nice work!

 

[CaptainNapalm]

I like the way they came out .Keep up the good shooting .Birding to me is an awsome way to spend a day in the woods with camera in hand .I hunt with a camera myself ,instead of using a gun i shoot a camera.

That dove sure pegged you .nice shot on the look out .:thumbup::thumbup:

Thanks. Indeed, it is nice to spend some time outside, camera in hand. I have to agree, I'd much prefer hunting with camera than a gun, although most of my friends would likely disagree.

 

[CaptainNapalm]

#3 is my favorite of the set! Nice work!

Thanks!