Critique :)

Hyburnate

Hyburnate

Hyburnate

Soldato
Joined
29 Jul 2011
Posts
15,674
Location
Near Northants / MK
At first I saw some birds and wanted to get closer so went out in the garden, then discovered this lazy cat taking a nap. I had to move myself to get the correct composition and so a tree wasn't ruining my shot. I'm incredibly pleased with how it came out.

I know it's only one shot so not much to critique but just want peoples thoughts on it. I'll make sure to add to this thread once I've edited the others.
 
I really like it, great expression on the cats face. What was the weather like, looks a little misty?
 
brilliant expression for me it's lacking that little pop that I think brightening his eye a tad would add along with some gentle curves work.

Ideally some more space at the bottom would improve the composition but it doesn't look like that was an option!
 
Great expression on th cat. Definitely wants a little more space under the cat and a little more pop from processing.
 
Excellent photo.
Just did a bit of a quick edit with contrast eyc:
2014-01-24%2019.17.01.jpg
 
I prefer the cropped version to the original. Not sure the processing suits it though as it looks a little warm on my IPS display now.
 

One from today :)

I think it's a starling however please tell me if it's not :p Tis not the greatest image but it's hard to get a birds attention :p
 
It is a starling. Be careful with your sharpening settings as it has the look of a clarity slider being used on it if you go too far.
 
Yeah, didn't get round to doing a bit of a clean up, sadly those trees don't belong to me and are quite high up so no chance of altering them :)
 
1st photo: cat too close to the bottom , the background is distracting ,the twigs look messy and the colours on the left don't let the cat stand out, the background could do with being all the same colour too

2nd photo: the starling could do with filling a lot more of the frame and showing lots more detail ,the twigs take up most of the shot and take attention off the bird, also some of the bird is hidden behind the twigs, moving to a better angle where you can see more light on the bird could help too

3rd photo: same criticisms as the second shot, the twigs don't add anything to the shot and the bird is out of focus a tad , if you like taking shots of birds then I'd recommend getting a longer lens
 
JBuk said:
1st photo: cat too close to the bottom , the background is distracting ,the twigs look messy and the colours on the left don't let the cat stand out, the background could do with being all the same colour too

2nd photo: the starling could do with filling a lot more of the frame and showing lots more detail ,the twigs take up most of the shot and take attention off the bird, also some of the bird is hidden behind the twigs, moving to a better angle where you can see more light on the bird could help too

3rd photo: same criticisms as the second shot, the twigs don't add anything to the shot and the bird is out of focus a tad , if you like taking shots of birds then I'd recommend getting a longer lens
Click to expand...

Not going to happen, I'll get them closer to me if I'm going to continue tbh. I'm at 400mm effective focal length and there's not really anything unless I start looking at L lenses and before I start buying them I'll be looking for a newer body. It's just they're always in the garden so easy subject to play about with settings and exposure comp.


Tidied up. Sadly I messed up a bit but I'll sort that out a little later :)
 
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Yeah, birds need a much longer lens. There is no way around it, even when you get really close they are still very small in the frame.


I use a 300mm f/4 with a 1.4xTC on a 1.5 crop body and get reasonable results when I can get close. I have a Nikon setup and got the lens second hand, I'm sure you will find the canon lenses at not too bad price. Also look at a second hand canon 400mm f/5.6
My bird photography went from almost impossible to somewhere that I am quite pleased with given the budget.

Otherwise it is hard to give a constructive critique here because the bird is just so small in the frame and the rest of the image is not supporting the image. One thing to note is the bird is looking right but there is a big empty space to the left. Compositions tend to be more natural when the bird/animal/person/car is looking or moving into the space, not off the edge of the frame.



Some things I found helpful was always going to the same places for walks and observing where a aims and birds are. You find they tend to repeat the same Behaviors so you can keep your eyes upon and be more productive rather than searching blindly. Then itis abouterseverence, getting put often enough so you can spot something in a good location under good lighting. On overcast days I tend to ignore shooting I to the sky and try to find ways to shoot into a darker background so I don't get a white background but it can be impossible, even a fairly blue sky gets pushed to white under these conditions.
 
Also check sharpness, none of them seem that sharp (or look like a soft image that has been over sharpened) but that might just be a combination of my iPad and downsizing.

Don't underestimate how fast the shutter speed has to be. People talk about the inverse of the focal length but you need to adjust for the crop factor and your own hands. A 300mm lens on canon and you would want 1/500th at a minimum and I would probably push for 1/800th or even faster.
 
Thanks D.P. I intend on going to a few nature reserves or something. I mean the lens has a 3 stop IS I've been just going for 1/250 what doesn't help is that anything over 100 ISO is a no go on such an old body. I really only take a picture because they're there I really need to get out more :p
 
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