Some photos of garden birds however ....

[maramessi10]

Hi there,

I've yet to take any courses on how to maximize my cameras potential so these are very much work in progress ....

What I want to know is, by using the camera properly, would I be able to zoom in further on these photographs and have better picture quality? As you can see the quality is lost after only a little zooming.

While I am quite happy with the images taken, I know they are not going to be up for wildlife photo of the week.

PS - These are not the full pictures, I've cropped them to eliminate my neighbours pretty face from them

 

[photo1x1.com]

Hi and welcome to the forum
I just took a look at the what is called the metadata of the first of your images. You chose the action program and the camera created an image with
shutter speed: 1/800 sec
aperture: f 5,6
ISO: 3200

You can see motion blur on the wings of some of the birds, so the shutter speed is already rather slow, but I´d say it is OK
Aperture is as big as it gets, so no chance to get more light from this side
And the exposure seems right.

So for the setting and the equipment you have, that´s about it.

BUT: you can wait for sunlight. Did you shoot these in the evening, or was it heavily overcast?
When you shoot the same scene in the sun, you should get somewhere near ISO 100, still keeping shutter Speed at 1/800 sec and aperture at f 5.6. That would be a huge difference in image quality.

Still the zoom range of your lens wouldn´t change though. So if bird photography is something that you like, you should think about a telephoto lens. The longer the better of course, and some in the forum who are great experts in wildlife photography will probably recommend frighteningly expensive lenses. However, learn with what you have to begin with and get to know what you really like to photograph (and what you have regular access to - I for example would love to shoot northern lights, but I have yet to see one ) before adding some more equipment.

 

[maramessi10]

Thank you for your reply, I didn't realise you can take a photo and run it through a program and know exactly how I took the photo. I won't be able to hide anything from you all now

When I bought the camera, the people who sold me it told me that the zoom on the camera would be more than sufficient for a beginner and that may very well be true. I did tell him that I wanted to take photographs of wildlife, birds especially and he said it won't be a problem. So I am not sure if I have been slightly mislead on that aspect.

I shot these in mid afternoon, around 3pm in Scotland and it was quite overcast. Sunlight in Scotland during November is scarce as common sense from a politician . There is slightly more sunlight today so I might try my luck later on.

When it came to taking photos of birds and other limited wildlife I have access to, I did think at some point I would need to invest in a telescopic lense (if that is the same as telephoto). I'll certainly have a look around the site.

 

[beagle100]

Hi there,

I've yet to take any courses on how to maximize my cameras potential so these are very much work in progress ....

What I want to know is, by using the camera properly, would I be able to zoom in further on these photographs and have better picture quality? As you can see the quality is lost after only a little zooming.

While I am quite happy with the images taken, I know they are not going to be up for wildlife photo of the week.

PS - These are not the full pictures, I've cropped them to eliminate my neighbours pretty face from them

you're going to want something longer than the 18-55 for better bird pics - look at a refurbished 55-250STM ($129) or up your budget for a used 100-400 or 400mm prime or one of the 150-600 zooms

Untitled by PhotosCW, on Flickr

Untitled by PhotosCW, on Flickr

 

[photo1x1.com]

Thank you for your reply, I didn't realise you can take a photo and run it through a program and know exactly how I took the photo. I won't be able to hide anything from you all now

When I bought the camera, the people who sold me it told me that the zoom on the camera would be more than sufficient for a beginner and that may very well be true. I did tell him that I wanted to take photographs of wildlife, birds especially and he said it won't be a problem. So I am not sure if I have been slightly mislead on that aspect.

I shot these in mid afternoon, around 3pm in Scotland and it was quite overcast. Sunlight in Scotland during November is scarce as common sense from a politician . There is slightly more sunlight today so I might try my luck later on.

When it came to taking photos of birds and other limited wildlife I have access to, I did think at some point I would need to invest in a telescopic lense (if that is the same as telephoto). I'll certainly have a look around the site.

Never trust people who sell cameras, or even use it, nor the common sense of politicians .
Nope, nothing can be hidden .
Well if wildlife is your preferred motive, a telephoto lens is your best option. The people who sold the camera weren´t entirely wrong, because a DSLR always gives you the option to add new lenses that will enable you to do that. But - Scotland is something I always wanted to go for landscape imagery - all those castles and green hills just look so amazing (well, the grass is always greener somewhere else ). So you could start with landscape and castles first, getting familiar with your camera. Because what you are going to need when using a long telephoto lens is a sturdy tripod. You really should have stayed away from that hobby .

 

[maramessi10]

I think I'll go back to playing solitaire as a hobby haha.

Your probably right, I should start of with landscaping and such and learn how to use the camera first.

I'm doing a TEFL course on photography now so hopefully that will help.


Sent from my SM-G900F using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app

 

[photo1x1.com]

Great - learn the basics of photography - it´s not as much and as complicated as you would think. And it will be so much more fun afterwards. But be aware that once you know the basics, there is no way back to solitaire!