Some CC on a lonely yet still bird.

[robbyrob]

well after reading so much on here and taking a couple pics I decided why not get some criticism myself? Only way to learn is to know what I am doing wrong so far so here it goes.

Let me set it up, went to throw out the garbage and said wow that pigeon is really still dam I wish I would have had my camera. One my way back in saw it was still there and I said well guess this is my model for the day.

anyways here's what I captured.

 

[KmH]

* Thread Moved * --- Per Beginner's forum description and included link.

Use one of the forums in the - Photo Galleries - Photos submitted by members for general display or critique - section of TPF if you want C&C improvement tips on some of the photos you have taken.

The bird is underexposed. Your camera likely provides you with a selection of light metering modes, like Spot, Center-Weighted, and Evaluative/Matrix. For this shot Spot metering would have been appropriate, and metering the bird.

As an alternative, fill flash could have been used.

 

[KmH]

I did an edit to illustrate how under exposed the bird is.

 

[robbyrob]

1. sorry about posting in the wrong forum.

2. I can see a big difference in the 2 pics. Wow now you throw metering in the mix. Just when I though I had the exposure triangle down. BOOM metering comes into play. I feel I have a new respect for photographers. I have to say this whole photography thing is a hobby that I hope one day to master.

now I see why I should have used the flash, it was a bit of a over cast that day. you are right its all about the light.

3. I see you cropped the photo as well. Was my crop too little? meaning I know we crop to remove attention away from other things other than the subject. did I leave too much space towards the left and top of the bird or was yours just a personal touch. I can see how in mine you might start looking at the buildings to the left. I also see you removed the dishes in the back. I didn't even think of that. yea your looks cleaner overall, no distraction, bird is main attention.

thanks for the heads up.. time to start reading on metering!!

 

[Primoz]

For this type of shot I would suggest using spot metering. I am guessing you had your camera set to matrix metering (deafult setting), which got confused with so much bright sky in the background. By setting your camera to spot metering, light will be measured for only a small spot in the centre of the frame (bird in your case) and you shall get an accurate exposure for your subject.