Novice Photographer

[sleipnerofasgard]

as i am just a novice i would like any advice on my pictures and i think this could be the place now i have got the hang of it,nothing to spectacular

now don't get too technical with me

i must admit i like this one and the lapwings

but the last two are my favourites


be gentle with mebut truthful it's the only way i'll learn

[wildone]

The robin unfortunately merges into the background.
The grey heron, I'm not sure how much room you had to work with but I would have prefered to see the bird a bit more to the left.
Not sure about the lapwing. Maybe it's because there is no one bird in sharp focus.
The next bird ( a redshank, I think) pity the feet got cut off. Otherwise a very nice image.
Finally the snipe, I would have prefered the bird slightly lower in the frame without cutting out the reflection.
Were you able to frame these in camera as you shot them?

Look at some of the very good images in the Gallery, you could well learn a lot.
For a beginner, very well done.

wildone

[sleipnerofasgard]

thanks for that,i see what you mean about the framing and that is down to me not cropping the pictures correctly the redshank having looked again as far as i can see all its legs are in the picture ,the lapwings were a quick off the cuff shot with autofocus on a compact 5 mp camera and i understand what you say i just liked to have so many birds in the frame .i haven't plucked up the courage to mess about with the SLRs manual setting yet as i think that may have helped with some of the pictures but the advice is well appreciated ,cheers

[wildone]

Yes the redshank's legs have now arrived. Make all the difference to a very nice image.

wildone

[ianrose82]

I agree with wildone...they are nice shots which could be improved by composing them a little differently. I got much the same response with my first attempts
I find the problem with manual settings is that sometimes you just don't have time and auto is the way to go..I have to admit that most of my photos are shot in aperture priority mode and with auto focus.
The Robin would benefit from a little tweaking...I played around with it a little in Photoshop and brightened the bird up a little which made it stand out a little more from the background without losing any definition.
Again, as wildone says, study the shots in the Gallery.....keep taking photos, lots of them and try different settings and angles. I've been doing this for about a year now and I still have a long way to go

[Ollie]

Have to agree with Wildone's comments on the photos, but for a novice they are pretty good. Also agree with ianrose82 about using aperture priority mode. Practice makes perfect as they say and I'm still practising myself. I'm sure with time you will achieve the results you are after
Roger

[sleipnerofasgard]

Thanks to everyone for all the helpful advice and i shall be a little braver with the manual settings,the robin in particular as the light was not very good could have done with some tweaking

[mh68]

Can`t add much to what has already been posted, but a couple of things which may help - firstly dont be afraid of using a higher ISO when necessary to get faster shutter speeds especially with the SLR (which helps give sharper results) and until you get an eye for placing the subject correctly in the frame it may be worth leaving a little more space round the subject when you shoot...gives more leeway to frame the image how you want when you crop.Keep up the good work

Mark H

[David Hyde]

Hi abd welcome to WAB
Some useful advice, as usual, from this site and well done for the photos you have. In my view the snipe is the best of the bunch, the reflection helps enormously and I think your cropping on this one is not far away. There is an overall problem with sharpness that you will need to address. I would advise, next time, submit one or two photographs; it makes it easier to offer more detailed advice. Keep up the good work.
David

[Bushcraft]

For a beginner you have some very nice shots. I personally would worry less about the cropping and framing at this stage, this just comes naturally with time.

For now, I would concentrate on the settings and how to use the camera to its best.
Some of your shots lack pin sharp results. This may be because the shutter speed was not quite fast enough (maybe because you’re ISO was a little low) or maybe because you didn’t use a tripod? It’s always worth using a tripod or monopod if you have the chance.

Having said this, to improve sharpness, I would work on your field craft skills to allow you get closer to the birds. This will eliminate tight cropping which will lose some image quality if it’s pushed a little too far. I know this is not always easy, especially if the birds are on mudflats, but there is often a way of getting closer.

Anyway, as I said these are some good shots in the early stages of your hobby. My first result were just black!

Kris