Still struggling making my way up the learning curve I seem to go for the challenge hence the hand held flight shot. My effort taken yesterday on Seaford cliffs East Sussex where there is a small colony of nesting Kittiwakes. They move so fast and my settings are more by luck than judgement.
Canon 350D Sigma 50mm - 500mm handheld 313mm ISO 400 f/5.6 1/2000sec auto focus.
Well you have certainly jumped in at the deep end!! a white in flight bird, pretty damn difficult to nail. Firstly a couple of points, would be much better posted a bit bigger, I think 700ish on the longest edge is the max, also you have not put if yo do any post processing but looks like you have done no USM (unsharp mask).
It looks as though there is detail in the whites so exposure looks good and the bird stands out great against that lovely BG. Add some USM, resize and repost and I think you will have a cracking image.
Regards
Rob
Posted by Malcolm Muir on July 20, 2007 at 3:15 PM
Hi Barry
The sea colour is wonderful and the bird is well exposed. It is slightly soft and at 1/2000 sec this is unlikely to be through movement. As Rob says, a bit of Unsharp mask applied in Photoshop might do wonders. Don't know how much you have cropped by but the central position in the frame and the wings being "straight up and down" detract a bit from a nice image. If you have room, you might try pulling out a bit and placing the bird lower and to the right. You have a stunning background here and good composition is much more important that just 'closeness.' It's quite a subjective thing, composition but I find that setting a crop fame in Photoshop and moving it around until the image visually "clicks" is a good start. Do a web search and get your head round some established landscape painting principles like the 'rule of thirds' - quite straightforward really and key to producing eye catching images. Also, try firing off a good few images as you pan after the bird - you will end up binning loads but one or two might be both sharp and nicely framed (if you are lucky).
Discussion
2 repliesCanon 350D Sigma 50mm - 500mm handheld 313mm ISO 400 f/5.6 1/2000sec auto focus.
Advice and Critique most welcome.
Thanks
Barry
Well you have certainly jumped in at the deep end!! a white in flight bird, pretty damn difficult to nail. Firstly a couple of points, would be much better posted a bit bigger, I think 700ish on the longest edge is the max, also you have not put if yo do any post processing but looks like you have done no USM (unsharp mask).
It looks as though there is detail in the whites so exposure looks good and the bird stands out great against that lovely BG. Add some USM, resize and repost and I think you will have a cracking image.
Regards
Rob
The sea colour is wonderful and the bird is well exposed. It is slightly soft and at 1/2000 sec this is unlikely to be through movement. As Rob says, a bit of Unsharp mask applied in Photoshop might do wonders. Don't know how much you have cropped by but the central position in the frame and the wings being "straight up and down" detract a bit from a nice image. If you have room, you might try pulling out a bit and placing the bird lower and to the right. You have a stunning background here and good composition is much more important that just 'closeness.' It's quite a subjective thing, composition but I find that setting a crop fame in Photoshop and moving it around until the image visually "clicks" is a good start. Do a web search and get your head round some established landscape painting principles like the 'rule of thirds' - quite straightforward really and key to producing eye catching images. Also, try firing off a good few images as you pan after the bird - you will end up binning loads but one or two might be both sharp and nicely framed (if you are lucky).
Good luck
Malcolm