The Gull

Hi Kevin,

I took the liberty of moving this image to the Avian Gallery - hope you don't mind!

Cheers...

Brad

It would help in commenting if you provided a bit more information with your images. Aperture, shutter speed, ISO are all useful to know, as well as what major processing has been applied.

I'm curious about the green background for this gull portrait. Was it part of the original image, or was it added in post processing? What makes me wonder is the way the green appears to stop before touching the gull.

In terms of settings for birds I think most of us avoid a fully automatic setting even when we use auto exposure. My preference is aperture preferred where I control the lens aperture and the camera sets the proper shutter speed. But I keep my eye on the shutter speed as well so I know what the camera is doing and can change things when and as I need to.

Hi Kevin and welcome to NPN.
You image is sharp, well exposed, has good eye contact and an uncluttered background - all characteristics of a fine image. An image is generally more visually pleasing where there is more space where the subject is facing, in this case on the left of the image.

You mention shooting in sports mode - I understand this produces a jpg image processed within the camera. Almost all of us here find it preferable to capture a raw image in Av, Tv or P mode, and to then process the image later, either with the software provided with your camera: DPP, or more typically in Photoshop. There is quite a learning curved involved, but you can really bring out the best in your photo. I look forward to seeing more images of yours. regards Simon.

I see a bit of brown halo around the bird. Was that produced because of post-processing? I do like the detail you got in the bird, and focus on the eye is super!

Kevin

Using my Safari browser I am able to see the techs of your shot and I think the sports program you were using went overboard with the ISO on this image, I don't believe you needed ISO 1600 for this shot given the light it appears you had. It also shows the camera used f5.6 for your aperture and with a bird this size in a portrait shot I probably would have used f8 to f9 to get the depth of field needed to get the bill in focus too. When you use sports mode the camera is determining these things.

I shoot most of the time in aperture priority, have the auto ISO turned off, I can then select the aperture I think is needed and use the ISO adjustments I make to help with shutter speed.

The green around the bird does look odd, I too am curious about it.

Hi Kevin, welcome to NPN! You've gotten some good feedback here. I'll add that I also shoot in Aperture Priority mode, where I choose the aperture (and ISO when I feel it is necessary), and let the camera find the shutter speed. Shooting this way gives you more control over your image and also allows you to shoot raw, which gives you far more control over the processing. there does appear to be a bit of a magenta color cast to the gull as well as to the halo around it, possibly introduced in processing?

Beautiful portrait

A nice portrait of this adult Ring-billed Gull. I can't add much to the comments you've already gotten, except to add my welcome to the others.

Welcome to NPN, Kevin. I think most of the helpful comments have already been noted above, but nothing takes the place of plain experience and getting out there to take photos every chance you can get. As well, posting here for critique will give you access to a great deal of expertise and advice. Hope to see more.

Kevin,,,,welcome to NPN. The muted colors and framing here are nice. If you want to gain more control of your images, you have already gotten some good advice about getting off of sports mode. Adding some tech info will definitely help others to give a useful critique.

Thank you for your comments on my cardinal Kevin.
I see you have been given some great advice on how to improve your image, so enough said.
One piece of advice I can give you. Learn to master your camera in manual, aperture, or shutter priority modes for the best results. And shoot using raw, it will give you the most latitude when PP your shot