Osprey in flight + addition

Hi Sandy: I enjoy your enthusiam with your images. Looks like you are having a great time with plenty of opportunities. This shot unfortunately needs some significant help. Looking at the image at the posted size, there are some large halos around the bird suggesting trying to either raise the brightness of the bird or trying to deal with the sky. There are some pretty clear cloning artifacts or something that caused things that look like cloning in the sky as it looks blotchy. The wing tips cut off at the top of the frame are also unfortunate. I don't know what the original RAW file might have looked like. When shooting into a light sky with a darker subject, if you're shooting in one of the priority modes, positive exposure compensation is a must to keep from having a dark subject. Manual exposure will solve all kinds of problems when photographing birds in flight against varied backgrounds. Sorry for my rather negative critique of this image, but I'm sure you would like to hear honest thoughts in order to raise the bar for images that you shoot and process.

No, great Keith, thanks so much for the candid review. Do me a favor however. Here is how this came down. I was ready to upload the file and other than basic PP in PSE11 and iPhoto, I have so much to learn. I sent the photo to a friend this afternoon and he did some PP using Perfect Effects. Please look at the original file that I was going to post to see if you see the same issues (other than the technicals of shooting). I was shooting in Av mode and when I saw the bird about to move, I quickly switched to Sports mode which I knew would quickly get me to an appropriate shutter speed if not an optimal setting. Again, I am trying to soak up everything that comes my way in that I appreciate how little I know. If I could gain about 10% of my enthusiasm and turn that into technical expertise, I would be shooting for National Geographic! Anyway see if what you were alluding to disappears with this image. Basically, I just originally removed some shadow from the shot with iPhoto.

Sandy: The repost is MUCH better than the image originally posted. I have no idea what "Perfect Effects" is, but in this case it was far less than "Perfect". The contrast was clearly raised, halos introduced. Post processing is extremely important to taking a good image and enhancing it. No amount of post processing will make a so-so image into a great image. It will just turn it into a heavily processed image.

Sounds like you are shooting JPEGS? I'm guessing that based on the use of iPhoto and PSE11 (which can handle RAWS), but only in 8 bit mode. If so, I'd strongly encourage you to read up on the advantages of RAW images. I think as you continue on your photographic journey, you'll realize that "Sports" mode just biases the camera to a higher shutter speed. Nothing you couldn't have done in Av mode with a wide open aperture and possibly a higher ISO. Your 70D should easily produce clean images up to ISO 800, maybe a bit higher. Hope that info is of some value. When I teach my fundamentals of photography class, I strongly encourage people to learn the basics of exposure via the exposure triangle of shutter speed, aperture and ISO, take control of those settings, and not rely on the picture modes on the camera. Sure, they might work in some situations, but why take a chance on what the camera "thinks" is right. It won't be long before you get bit by it making a bad decision on a shot that is not something you'll be able to do again. Guess enough of my personal thoughts on settings.

Thanks Keith - I so appreciate the input. I have so much I need to investigate as I go along. I started off by doing a lot of heavy reading and certainly got a good dose of the exposure triangle stuff. I need to spend more time learning than shooting - but so much more enjoy getting out there. I do also need to look into shooting RAW as I certainly understand the advantages of so doing. As always, thanks so much for taking time to offer me your expert guidance - it is greatly appreciated!