Dinner Time

J

Jon

Senior Member
I was sitting in our backyard enjoying the summer like weather with a beer in my hand. This bird flew down and captured his/her prey. My first instinct was to drop my beer on the floor and ran for my camera. Good thing I was able to get at least 3 shots before it flew out again to boast his/her meal to fellow feathered friends. Does anybody know what kind of bird is this?

I hope my pic did justice to the bird's conquest. By the way, there was no beer spilled when this picture was taken. Every drop was all accounted for. Thanks for your concern for the beer.

EXIF:
Date Shot: 21/05/2012 17:48:47.70
Device: Nikon D7000
Lens: 70-300mm F/4-5.6D
Focal Length: 300mm
Focus Mode: AF-C
AF-Area Mode: Single
VR:
AF Fine Tune: OFF
Exposure
Aperture: F/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/80s
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 100
Image Settings
White Balance: Auto1, 0, 0
Color Space: sRGB
High ISO NR: ON (Normal)
Long Exposure NR: OFF
Active D-Lighting: Auto
Picture Control
Picture Control: [SD] STANDARD
Base: [SD] STANDARD
Quick Adjust: 0
Sharpening: 3
Contrast: 0
Brightness: 0
Saturation: 0
Hue: 0
DSC_0096.JPG
 
C

Carolina Photo Guy

Senior Member
Jon said:
I was sitting in our backyard enjoying the summer like weather with a beer in my hand. This bird flew down and captured his/her prey. My first instinct was to drop my beer on the floor and ran for my camera. Good thing I was able to get at least 3 shots before it flew out again to boast his/her meal to fellow feathered friends. Does anybody know what kind of bird is this?

I hope my pic did justice to the bird's conquest. By the way, there was no beer spilled when this picture was taken. Every drop was all accounted for. Thanks for your concern for the beer.

EXIF:
Date Shot: 21/05/2012 17:48:47.70
Device: Nikon D7000
Lens: 70-300mm F/4-5.6D
Focal Length: 300mm
Focus Mode: AF-C
AF-Area Mode: Single
VR:
AF Fine Tune: OFF
Exposure
Aperture: F/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/80s
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 100
Image Settings
White Balance: Auto1, 0, 0
Color Space: sRGB
High ISO NR: ON (Normal)
Long Exposure NR: OFF
Active D-Lighting: Auto
Picture Control
Picture Control: [SD] STANDARD
Base: [SD] STANDARD
Quick Adjust: 0
Sharpening: 3
Contrast: 0
Brightness: 0
Saturation: 0
Hue: 0
View attachment 11498
Click to expand...

The critique rules have been changed to the point that I feel I need a degree in Art Photography to properly critique a photo. I have very little knowledge about either art or photography, so I am pretty sure that my critique will be useless. You will notice that this is not slowing me down in the slightest! I have questions about the composition. Questions that should NOT need to be asked.
First question... What is the STAR of this shot? If its the Bird, then why is he so small? Crop this so that the Bird is a conquering hero and not a bit player. I personally would have cropped this to a vertical orientation instead of a horizontal.
Second question...Why are the colors so muted? Punch the colors up and revel in the beauty of the Bird, the fence and even the background leaves.

This critique is worth less than what it costs, but you did ask. I will say this. I love the subject. You caught a fantastic shot WITHOUT harming a beer in the process.
That is a noteworthy achievement.

To answer YOUR question...

This is a LIVE Bird. I say that with COMPLETE confidence even though I am not an ornithologist. :)
 
3

3Ring

New member
I studied your EXIF data, but could not find some critical information: what kind of beer were you drinking????
 
Last edited:
G

gqtuazon

Gear Head
I like it. Good subject isolation and at f5.6 (being wide open), and 1/80, that looks pretty good if you shot it without a tripod. I would have stopped it down a bit to f8, increase the shutter to 1/125 or higher and ISO as well. Looks pretty good overall. Thanks for sharing.
 
AC016

AC016

Senior Member
gqtuazon said:
I like it. Good subject isolation and at f5.6 (being wide open), and 1/80, that looks pretty good if you shot it without a tripod. I would have stopped it down a bit to f8, increase the shutter to 1/125 or higher and ISO as well. Looks pretty good overall. Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

I am just curious as to why you mention a tripod?
 
AC016

AC016

Senior Member
Carolina Photo Guy said:
The critique rules have been changed to the point that I feel I need a degree in Art Photography to properly critique a photo. I have very little knowledge about either art or photography, so I am pretty sure that my critique will be useless. You will notice that this is not slowing me down in the slightest! I have questions about the composition. Questions that should NOT need to be asked.
First question... What is the STAR of this shot? If its the Bird, then why is he so small? Crop this so that the Bird is a conquering hero and not a bit player. I personally would have cropped this to a vertical orientation instead of a horizontal.
Second question...Why are the colors so muted? Punch the colors up and revel in the beauty of the Bird, the fence and even the background leaves.

This critique is worth less than what it costs, but you did ask. I will say this. I love the subject. You caught a fantastic shot WITHOUT harming a beer in the process.
That is a noteworthy achievement.

To answer YOUR question...

This is a LIVE Bird. I say that with COMPLETE confidence even though I am not an ornithologist. :)
Click to expand...

When you say "punch up the colors"... how would you do that? I have had similar shots to this - where the sunlight is "bleaching" out the colors. So, how would you make the colors stand out more?
 
J

Jon

Senior Member
Carolina Photo Guy said:
The critique rules have been changed to the point that I feel I need a degree in Art Photography to properly critique a photo. I have very little knowledge about either art or photography, so I am pretty sure that my critique will be useless. You will notice that this is not slowing me down in the slightest! I have questions about the composition. Questions that should NOT need to be asked.
First question... What is the STAR of this shot? If its the Bird, then why is he so small? Crop this so that the Bird is a conquering hero and not a bit player. I personally would have cropped this to a vertical orientation instead of a horizontal.
Second question...Why are the colors so muted? Punch the colors up and revel in the beauty of the Bird, the fence and even the background leaves.

This critique is worth less than what it costs, but you did ask. I will say this. I love the subject. You caught a fantastic shot WITHOUT harming a beer in the process.
That is a noteworthy achievement.

To answer YOUR question...

This is a LIVE Bird. I say that with COMPLETE confidence even though I am not an ornithologist. :)
Click to expand...

I agree with you Pete, it does need some cropping and improvement in the colors. Thanks.
 
J

Jon

Senior Member
gqtuazon said:
I like it. Good subject isolation and at f5.6 (being wide open), and 1/80, that looks pretty good if you shot it without a tripod. I would have stopped it down a bit to f8, increase the shutter to 1/125 or higher and ISO as well. Looks pretty good overall. Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Glenn. I did not use a tripod but did put my elbows on a table.
 
C

Carolina Photo Guy

Senior Member
D5100Shooter said:
When you say "punch up the colors"... how would you do that? I have had similar shots to this - where the sunlight is "bleaching" out the colors. So, how would you make the colors stand out more?
Click to expand...

Like THIS. I use Aperture 3 most of the time on my iMac. I also have Lightroom 3 on my HP laptop, but I don't use that near as much as I should.

Here I just kicked the definition up, added some saturation and reduced the exposure. I also cropped to a vertical orientation with the birds head on the upper right third to preserve the rule of thirds.Lunchtime!.jpg

I hope that it was okay with you. :)
 
J

Jon

Senior Member
Carolina Photo Guy said:
Like THIS. I use Aperture 3 most of the time on my iMac. I also have Lightroom 3 on my HP laptop, but I don't use that near as much as I should.

Here I just kicked the definition up, added some saturation and reduced the exposure. I also cropped to a vertical orientation with the birds head on the upper right third to preserve the rule of thirds.View attachment 11516

I hope that it was okay with you. :)
Click to expand...

A big improvement. Thanks, Pete.
 
AC016

AC016

Senior Member
gqtuazon said:
Normally, birders use a tripod especially when using longer FL lens. The minimum shutter speed is usually equally or greater the FL. You get optimal sharpness when using a tripod.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I will remember that next time i am shooting birds;)
 
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