Novice Update

[sleipnerofasgard]

well it has been a while now since i started this venture and it is time to see if there is at least some improvement,the subject i am putting forward were a little closer than my usual efforts but i'd like to think i have improved on previous efforts .your opinions,as always ,will be most gratefully received

[Geoff F]

Not bad. I would say that the Woodpecker and Robin are fine. Being ultra critical, the Great Tit and Goldfinch seem a little soft to me. It looks as though the light was bad so possibly your shutter speed was a little slow. I would think this was due to conditions of the day not camera technique.

But first we really need some facts. Digital or film. What shutter speed, aperture and ISO. Were you handholding the camera or using a tripod with cable release. Auto or Manual focus. Are these images straight out of the camera? If so, a little Unsharp Mask would work wonders with them. Maybe also a tweak with Curves/Levels and a very tiny bit of saturation.

[sleipnerofasgard]

Yes the two you mentioned were slow shutter speeds to keep the iso down about 1/125 but here is one with an iso of 560 that was a faster shutter that seems okay .still experimenting

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by sleipnerofasgard

Yes the two you mentioned were slow shutter speeds to keep the iso down about 1/125 but here is one with an iso of 560 that was a faster shutter that seems okay .still experimenting

That Robin is a good shot. It needs a little adjustment, I've had a go and reloaded it back in your name:



I'm not saying that's the best it can be, others no doubt can do better.
I'm not sure what software your using, but I didn't do anything difficult.Mainly adjusted the levels, applied some sharpening and removed some of the background noise.

[sleipnerofasgard]

Maybe you could let me know which software you used because that is a very big improvement graham,all i did was brighten and sharpen with picasa but if that is the sort of results you get i may spend a few bob

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by sleipnerofasgard

Maybe you could let me know which software you used because that is a very big improvement graham,all i did was brighten and sharpen with picasa but if that is the sort of results you get i may spend a few bob

I use Photoshop, but what I did could easily be done in something like Elements which is far cheaper. Even some of the free ones could do most of it. The first thing I did was to check the levels, and adjust them to match the data. This straight away brought the colour back and removed the slightly flat foggy look.
I then applied some sharpening to the bird only. I ran neat image over the background, which softened and smoothed it out. Neat Image is very effective at this, never mind the noise removal!

[Geoff F]

Unless using a tripod, I usually regard shutter speed and sometimes aperture as more important than low ISO. It is better to have slight noise on a sharp photo than the other way around. You probably already know this but the general rule of thumb for hand held photography is that the minimum shutter speed should equal the lens size. ie, if your lens is set to 200mm your shutter speed should be at least 1/200.

As far as software is concerned, Photoshop Elements 3 often comes free with photographic equipment and is a generally regarded basic programme which many people use to good effect. Personally, I find it a bit cluttered and needlessly complicated so prefer to use Serif Photo Plus, but that is just my preference. With regard to Photo Plus, I wouldn't advise anybody getting an earlier version than PP 10. The current number is 12 (X2) but 10 may be available at a good price and contains almost the same effects as version 12.

[GME]

Really nice Robin final Robin shot. Just shows why a bit of post-shot tinkering can make all the difference. The original shot was nice, but the 'Photoshopping' after made a difference I think. More to learn