Some Bird Photography - C&C please =3

[Xyttik]

Hey guys,

I've got a few photos of various birds that I wouldn't mind getting some constructive criticism on.
I'm still pretty new at this, so please be honest, but not too harsh =)

#1 - Black Swan 1

Black Swan by xyttik, on Flickr

#2 - New Zealand Wood Pigeon

New Zealand Wood Pigeon by xyttik, on Flickr

#3 - Swallow

Swallow by the river by xyttik, on Flickr

#4 - Silver-Eye

Silver-Eye in the Cherry blossoms by xyttik, on Flickr

#5 - Paradise Ducklings

Paradise Ducklings by xyttik, on Flickr





Any feedback and suggestions would be much appreciated =)

 

[WesternGuy]

First impressions:

#1. If you are going to shoot the whole bird, then include the whole body in the picture - exception being if you are doing head shots - and use the rule of thirds to place the head in the frame.

#2. Not bad, looks like you were playing hide-and-seek with this one. You have placed the subject in the middle of the frame - if you use the rule of thirds, then it would be placed a bit more to the left and maybe down a bit so that the bird is looking into the right side of the frame. Maybe, just maybe, the image is a bit oversaturated on my calibrated monitor, but this does not detract from the quality of the image for me.

#3. Nice image, but again, it appears to be either underexposed a bit or slightly over saturated - birds colours are nice. You cropped/clipped its tail. You need to watch this sort of thing either in your view finder or in post processing - clipping/cropping parts of the bird will detract from the overall quality of the image.

#4. This one was interesting as it took me a few seconds to find the bird among the red flowers. So that is my only comment is that the red flowers are a bit distracting. Again, you placed the subject right in the middle of the frame.

#5. It is too bad that you had the "half a duck" in the foreground and it is OOF. This would have been a good picture if you just had the two ducks in it, the one in the foreground in focus and the one in the background OOF.

If you are going to photograph wildlife, including birds, for a career or a hobby - doesn't matter - then you have to learn to be very patient and not shoot the first thing that pops up in the view finder. Bird photography may be the hardest form of wildlife photography. You have to be stealthy, you have to understand their behaviour, you have to have super-quick reactions and above all, you have to be patient. When I am photographing birds, I will often sit/stand and watch them for a while to see what they are doing - if you are really still, they will eventually ignore you (assuming they have seen you). I will then focus on a few birds that may be doing something I find interesting, or not, and compose an image in camera before shooting. A lot of how I approach a bird shoot depends on whether or not they are perched birds or floating birds - they do behave quite differently. You might want to check this site out for some ideas: 9 Tips For Photographing Perched Birds | PhotoNaturalist , and if you Google "bird photography tips" and look at the first dozen or so sites, you will also get some ideas on "how tos". From a purely compositional perspective, you should look up "rule of thirds" on the web as it will give you some insight into what the pros and experienced amateurs often do when placing subjects, of any kind, in an image. HTH.

Cheers,

WesternGuy