a few of my shots so far..

[forevergreen]

Hi
these are a few of the shots ive got so far please tell me what you think of them and how to improve.






They're not brilliant but i think im getting there..

[Jon]

Unfortunately I can only see one image and that is the widgeon. It is essentially a decent image but it is underexposed. Check your histogram, when photographing birds on water you often need to increase exposure by 1/3 or 2/3 of a stop.
If this doesn't make much sense PM me I will explain in more detail
Jon

[glsammy]

If you look at the EXIF information for the top shot, you had -2 stops of exposure compensation set. This is way too much, and explains why the shot looks dark. I'd set that back to at best -1/3, or 0.

It's also set at -2 for the flamingo shot. That shot looks good, I'd like to have seen a larger version of that one. There's some good colours in that reflection and even though the exposure was set at -2EV, the image looks good.

It's a good idea to load larger version for us to evaluate, especially for old codgers like me, Have pity on my tired old eyes! Something like 800 x 600 is best, so we can see a full screen shot.

[forevergreen]

i have no idea what those minus numbers meant but thanks for the encouragement. how do i upload a larger image anyway?
thanks for replying any way

[glsammy]

Originally Posted by forevergreen

i have no idea what those minus numbers meant but thanks for the encouragement. how do i upload a larger image anyway?
thanks for replying any way

Can I suggest you read your camera manual so you can change the exposure compensation, or else you'll find a lot of your images will look very dark.

You must have prepared your images to upload here, you need to make the size is larger than you've done with these.
If your not sure how to do that, can you please say how you prepared the images you uploaded and which program you used, then we can offer you better advice on what to do.

[forevergreen]

when you say exposure.. is that to do with the aparture or the shutter speed? or something else?

for the top shot i had the ISO on 800 since i was under tree cover and it was cloudy out.
shutter speed was 1/100 and the apature was F3.5
i had the camera on aparture setting mode where i just set the aparture.
does this tell you what you need?





i made the flamingo shot bigger. hope this helps..

[RichBrew]

Originally Posted by forevergreen

when you say exposure.. is that to do with the aparture or the shutter speed?

Both! Exposure (the amount of light exposed to the sensor/film) is governed by these settings. They are reciprocal, and work in relation to each other to determine the amount of light that reaches the sensor.

RichBrew

[forevergreen]

Originally Posted by RichBrew

Both! Exposure (the amount of light exposed to the sensor/film) is governed by these settings. They are reciprocal, and work in relation to each other to determine the amount of light that reaches the sensor.

RichBrew

ok thanks ill keep that in mind.


i made this shot bigger and brightened it up a bit too. Thanks for being patient with me, i think i'll have to look at the instruction manual a bit more...

[RichBrew]

Originally Posted by forevergreen

i think i'll have to look at the instruction manual a bit more...

RTFM! Read The Manual. I've had more cameras than I care to remember over the years, but always take the time to read the manual when buying a new one. Familiarise yourself with the capabilities, and how to make/change settings.
Of course, don't be afraid to ask. We all had to start somewhere, and will only to too glad to help.

RichBrew

[Geoff F]

If your Exposure Compensation is set for -2 and you don't understand why; I wonder if you have accidentally set this or forgotten to readjust to 0. Read up on Exposure Compensation in your camera manual and check that you are starting from 0.

Compensation is handy when you have a white bird against a dark background (use minus compensation) or a dark bird against a light background (use plus compensation). But, and it's a big but, when to use compensation and how much is a matter of experience. Try taking the same shot several times with different settings to see what happens.

Your brightness adjusted bird is a lot better. Possibly it could take a fraction more brightness on the shadows, but no more on the highlights. Whatever you do you won't get this image perfect because the light was coming from the wrong direction which is causing a shadow on the back of the bird's head; and you can't change the direction of the sun!