Tips on improving please

[riggy]

Hello

Having took some images that I was pleased with I submitted them to the Gallery for only one to be accepted.(I may not have submitted all of the pics below and may have broke rules re nuber of same subject etc.) This thread is not to dispute in anyway the decision etc and I fully respect the work the mods etc due.
What I would like is advice on how to improve these shots for next time. (shots below resized for image library)



this is the one that got accepted


Shutter speed 1/1250
F5.6
iso 400
edited in picasa (cropped and slight tweeks to colour)

Again I am not asking for specific reason why a pic was not accepted just how to improve after we learn more from failure (if that is true the England football team must be well educated!)

Cheers

Paul

[Lancashire Lad]

My personal opinion is that they might have benefitted from a slight underexposure compared to the setting used, as they are generally quite pale and on the "soft" side.

Might be improved by a little sharpening, but the soft appearance could be due to the amount of crop given, although there does seem to be just a touch of blur in evidence.

Having said that, I appreciate that shooting birds in flight is not easy. (Much easier with my chosen subjects of flowers and fungi - at least they dont fly away!)

Regards,
Mike.

[riggy]

Originally Posted by Lancashire Lad

My personal opinion is that they might have benefitted from a slight underexposure compared to the setting used, as they are generally quite pale and on the "soft" side.

Might be improved by a little sharpening, but the soft appearance could be due to the amount of crop given, although there does seem to be just a touch of blur in evidence.

Having said that, I appreciate that shooting birds in flight is not easy. (Much easier with my chosen subjects of flowers and fungi - at least they dont fly away!)

Regards,
Mike.

Cheers Mike

The one that got accepted was sharpened with neat image but putting the others through seemed to remove some of the feather detail.
Will play with the expusure to see if that improves them.

Paul

[zan]

The big thing that strikes me about all the images is that the birds are flying away from you and are fairly small in the frame. This isn't something that you can fix for these shots, but for the next time it would be worth trying to get around in front of them (easier said than done!) if you can. Try and spot them while there still far away and keep an eye on the direction they're heading in or if there's a favourite spot they're hanging about and get in front. Watching patiently for a little while will also get you used to their movement patterns, and make it a bit easier when you get close enough for the camera. Many (if not all) birds tend to face into the wind, especially during take off and landing (same for planes, though I couldn't explain the physics involved) so paying attention to that should help as well.

Hope this is a bit of help, if only for the next time you're out Good luck, and looking forward to seeing your next set!

Oh - what gear are you using incidentally?

[riggy]

Originally Posted by zan

The big thing that strikes me about all the images is that the birds are flying away from you and are fairly small in the frame. This isn't something that you can fix for these shots, but for the next time it would be worth trying to get around in front of them (easier said than done!) if you can. Try and spot them while there still far away and keep an eye on the direction they're heading in or if there's a favourite spot they're hanging about and get in front. Watching patiently for a little while will also get you used to their movement patterns, and make it a bit easier when you get close enough for the camera. Many (if not all) birds tend to face into the wind, especially during take off and landing (same for planes, though I couldn't explain the physics involved) so paying attention to that should help as well.

Hope this is a bit of help, if only for the next time you're out Good luck, and looking forward to seeing your next set!

Oh - what gear are you using incidentally?

These came over my head and as such I had to shoot from the position I was in. If I remember from my time in the air cadets planes land into to the wind so the they get more airflow over the wings at a slower speed and don't stall and drop out of the sky (it all to do with angle of attacks and disription of air flow over the wings - i think!).

I am using a sony a200 with tamron 70 - 300mm lens.

Cheers

Paul

[Ollie]

Originally Posted by riggy

The one that got accepted was sharpened with neat image but putting the others through seemed to remove some of the feather detail.
Will play with the expusure to see if that improves them.

Paul

I agree with Mike they are slightly over exposed.

When using Neat Image Paul it's best to put a mask around the subject then inverse the selection so Neat Image only works on the background not the main subject. This keeps all the feather detail intact.

[riggy]

Thanks for the advice.

Will put this into place. Has I said in the first post I am not disputing in any way any decision about inclusion in the Gallery just looking to improve.

I have also noticed the exposure on my camera is set to +2 at the moment probally due to the fact I have been in the reeds taking dragonfly shots and I for some reason have started shooting in JPEG not RAW.

Cheers

Paul

[acherontia]

Not mentioned yet - but theres lens abberration on some (purple fringing) - this can happen if the lens isn't spotless and when shooting with bright light background - ie a lot of BiF shots are against the sky. Watch where the light is in relation to the bird. Sometimes it's better to have the bird small in the frame (especially when there's some landscape to give a sense of the bird's relationship to its environment) rather than crop in too tightly on a shot that won't stand it.

Personally - I would always bin shots that weren't still sharp at 100%-200% without any PP sharpening but I tend to process for stock site standards which are incredibly picky!

A good effort as regards a very difficult choice of subject though!

My main advice for improvement is-

'Be your own worst critic' and the improvement will come along nicely! Keep taking those shots!!

Acher

[riggy]

Originally Posted by acherontia

Not mentioned yet - but theres lens abberration on some (purple fringing) - this can happen if the lens isn't spotless and when shooting with bright light background - ie a lot of BiF shots are against the sky. Watch where the light is in relation to the bird. Sometimes it's better to have the bird small in the frame (especially when there's some landscape to give a sense of the bird's relationship to its environment) rather than crop in too tightly on a shot that won't stand it.

Personally - I would always bin shots that weren't still sharp at 100%-200% without any PP sharpening but I tend to process for stock site standards which are incredibly picky!

A good effort as regards a very difficult choice of subject though!

My main advice for improvement is-

'Be your own worst critic' and the improvement will come along nicely! Keep taking those shots!!

Acher

Cheers

Yes looking at the lens it does need a clean as does the sensor.
Positioning was down to it been a take it or lose it situation as the birds came over my head.

I think I also need to start thinking about putting the subject into its context rather than super close-up. In fact one of my favaroite Swallow shots has the bird small flying low over a rape field



I am becoming more critical of my work and the need to improve it but sometimes the memory of what you have witnesed came blind you to the final outcome of the picture. Putting work on here and getting the kind of feedback I have got can only help. Many thanks to all.

[nigel_b]

Maybe the rejections werent on technical merit or lack of, but simply that all the shots showed pretty much the same thing?