Same waterfowl from this morning

[mmeyer]

I went out to shoot some waterfowl (the hard way) this morning. These are my results. Please feel free to add any c&c since I am trying to get better at wildlife photos. I haven't had much experience with it yet.

f6.3 1/500 -1EV 500mm ISO 400

f6.3 1/500 -1EV 500mm ISO 400

f7.1 1/500 -1EV 500mm ISO 400

f7.1 1/500 -1EV 500mm ISO 400

This wasn't what I was going for but I think it is kind of cool anyways.

f6.3 1/40 -1 500mm ISO200

f6.3 1/80 -1EV 500mm ISO 200

Thanks for looking

Mike

[Steve Foss]

Mike, these are all nice.

I like the flight shots with the blurry wings. Most bird in flight shots of ducks use a very fast shutter speed to freeze wing motion as much as possible, but I prefer it with blurred wings because of the nice artsy motion it implies.

All of these images are too dark to my eye (underexposed), when flying birds are darker than the sky or swimming birds darker than the water, the meter generally exposes to get the sky right, which underexposes the birds. That's likely what happened here. Use exposure compensation (your manual tells you how in case you haven't done it before) and overexpose a full stop as a starting point in these situations. Then after shooting a few check your histogram and see if there are any "blinkies," or blinking areas that indicate blown out highlights. If there are some, use EC to re-adjust until things are good.

In post processing, you can lighten mid-range levels to brighten these up if they are underexposed at capture. Or, if you shot them RAW, you can bring up the exposure level on the preview screen until it looks just right, before you pull it all the way open in Photoshop or whatever you're using.

[MN Shutterbug]

Hi Mike,

You sure picked a gloomy day to be out taking photos. That definitely makes it a challenge. You have some decent shots here, but do you do any post processing? A little levels adjustment and maybe adding in some saturation, could really improve the dullness of these shots (thanks to the extremely poor lighting conditions). Also, have you done any sharpening on these? Once again, poor lighting makes it real tough for a camera to auto focus properly. The best advice I could have for you, is pick a brighter day to take pictures. Wouldn't it be nice if we could pick and choose and only go out on days when the lighting is ideal?

However, the composition is great on all of them. Also, I agree that the 2nd to the last one is cool.

[MN Shutterbug]

I just want to show you what 30 seconds on the PC can do. Someone with more time and more experience, could probably improve it much more. Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything about the softness.

[Steve Foss]

Mike, I'd also be interested to know what your iso/shutter speed/aperture values were. I shoot BIF and other birds in flat light at iso400 with the lens aperture wide open or stopped down only one stop to ensure the fastest possible shutter speed.

[finnbay]

I like the geese in flight as well. They are really nicely grouped.

[mmeyer]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the feedback. After reading your reply Steve, I looked at my Exposure Compensation and it was set at -1 which I didn't realize. I'll try your suggestions next time.

I added the exif data to the photos in the original post. I was shooting in Aperature priority.

X,

I did a little in PS with exposure and a little sharpening. I'm always afraid I'm doing to much PP and making some shots look unnatural so I try not to go crazy but I think I'll have to find a nice middle ground. I'm sure it will come in time.

I appreciate all of your help. I'll hopefully get to try out some new things on a little better day next time.

Thanks again,

Mike

[Dbl]

Mike,

It looks like you had constant lighting in these due to the cloudy conditions, here is where your GOOD friend manual exposure would help out. A good starting point is with your camera in Av shoot a shot of your hand. Note the exposure settings, put the camera in manual and shoot a few shots to see the histogram. Adjust your exposure to get that histogram just right of center. The biggest lesson to learn is to constantly check your histogram to keep your exposure on track, this also has the side benefit of catching minor errors, such as -1 EC Don't believe your LCD and hope that is right, believe the histogram.

This gives you consistent results with changing backgrounds, dark trees to bright skies. Try it you may like it. If you don't experiment with these things you will have a slower path to improving.

One thing you really must have to get the best results from your work is a workflow in PP. It is the dirty little secret in digital photography. There is nothing to feel bad about, "I'm not capturing what I see". The bottom line is the camera rarely captures what the eye sees.

Your brain is much more intelligent than the brain of the camera is. In the film days we were doing the same thing as we now do on a computer, try to get the most out of the image as you can. You can try to replicate your scene, or you can try to be creative with it. Your choice, your image.

Let me give you a quick basic idea of what I do to EACH image I keep. Keep in mind I may do different things to different images, different situations, let the image tell you that. With more experience you will find what you need to do very quickly.

1. Open image and apply some form of sharpening.

2. Use curves and or levels to get exposure correct and colors corrected.

3. Slight saturation or channel mixer for colors to suit taste.

4. Another round of light sharpening via favorite technique.

This is basic, just a starting point. You will find a flow that works well for you and your photos. My workflow and what I do to each shot changes almost on a monthly biases. I am always learning a new technique that helps me get the most from a shot. I look at work I did 5 years ago with digital and just shake my head. I look at what I did a year ago and just shake my head. HOW I take the picture hasn't really changed in years, principles of exposure, focus, composition etc. Your standards and expectations will change along with your experience. Hope that helps a bit.

Dan

[mmeyer]

Dan,

Thanks for the great feedback. This post has been one of my best as far as feedback and it reminds me of how helpful you guys are.

I will be definitely be using this information in the future . I'm always looking for ways to improve since I'm pretty new to this art.

Thanks again to everyone for your help.

Mike