Wheatear

great detail and nice with the captured flies, unsure about the central comp though

Hi Joanna, the images you have posted lately most have been this square crop which for me does not do the images justice. Try to use your focus spot which you see through your viewfinder after half-pressing the shutter button, it will show up as a red square, you then move this spot with your wheel with your finger/thumb as you look through the viewfinder on your make of camera. This will allow you to compose your images, giving space in front of the subject, getting away from these square crops. Also here with the pixels and noise in the back ground it would seem you have cropped really big which takes detail away from your camera, no point in buying an expensive camera with a great pixel rate if you crop big as this takes that pixel count down to the level of an older make of camera. When you see a subject, see the image first, then compose, try to use AV mode, controlling the depth of field within your subject, use what natural light you have, use fieldcraft to try and get closer to wildlife instead of cropping. Your images are sharp but you need to compose better in camera, in turn this will transform your images. I hope that advice helps which added to your passion for wildlife will make for an all round improvement within your own work

Techs - f5.6, ISO640, 1/2000 300mm lens.

that was a big crop, i had no idea it was that big so fair play in keeping all that detail. I prefer the uncropped version it just seems more natural.

that is one heck of a crop Joanna. That will be a major cause of the noise, that and the sharpening too (it's best to selectively sharpen rather than to sharpen the whole image). I would personally avoid cropping to that extent but if you do I would leave more space on the RHS, as others have pointed out above.

Matt

thanks Matt,
no, i agree the crop is too tight (i always seem to crop too tight) plenty of space in the composition when taken, just get carried away in the editing!

I agree with some of the points raised above. You certainly did well to get 6 foot from a wheatear feeding young in the nest ! I find a hide at three times that distance can be a bit dodgy. ( maybe its black country birds ! )
Cheers
johnR

I think Craigs advice is spot-on. Getting a good composition in camera is key - it doesn't matter if the subject is small in frame. My belief is that if you're cropping a shot then you took the wrong shot to begin with. I hate it when I have to crop one of my shots as it means I failed in the field. It also means after having spent a fortune on a camera with a good sensor I'm having to chuck away a lot of the pixels that I've paid for! In my opinion the crop tool is there to perfect a composition - not create one.

The first image, whilst it looks good as posted, is more of a testimony to the quality of your camera/lens set-up than your skill as a photographer - afterall, it's only about 20% of the shot you actually took. The second shot - which I think is still cropped judging by the aspect ratio - is much better as it includes the birds habitat and is a more honest account of your photography.

Getting within six feet of a wheatear is achievement enough - no need to crop as if you were toe-to-toe with it


Simon

Hi Jo

I wondered about the noise in the background until I saw the original shot that you included below. I think in the forum rules there is a section about detailing the crop used within the photograph that you post so that others can assess what you've taken and provide meaningful advice. There are a number of us on the forum that do this already otherwise I feel your misrepresenting the photograph to others.

Ditto Simon and Craigs comments.

I prefer the second post showing the Wheatear in the environment, although it could do with about 10-15% crop down to the top of the green.

Ian

Nice, works well with the insects.

There is some good advice already given on this one Joanna.

I think you have done incredibly well to pull so much detail from the original image given the crop.

Cheers

Austin