Todays visitors

I would appreciate some constructive criticism of these please.

Oregon Jonko

Rocky Mountain Chickadee


Apart from cropping, they are as taken.

Oregon Jonko
View attachment 150577

Very nice shot, looks alittle soft (not much) and some sharpening/editing will help this.


Rocky Mountain Chickadee
View attachment 150578

This one to me looks alot softer, other than that looks ok.

Top photo may just be a bit over exposed.
Focus on the bottom one seems to be on the chain, on the links in front of the bird.

Thanks guys, these are details that I will look out for in future.

Looking at the second one it may be worth checking your fine tune focus setting,the first one i would like to see a bit more space at the top,two nice captures though.

I agree with @Scott Murray on the shots being somewhat softish. Apart from that, the crops might be a bit tight. I like some breathing room in my shots, but that is purely a personal taste.

On the second shot, you might try putting the focus point on the eyes next time..

If you will increase the contrast a little it will help the sharpness. Are you shooting in RAW? and if so what are you using to process it with?

I also agree with Scott. They look a little soft but I don't think your camera has the ability to Fine tune the auto focus. Someone else with the D5300 can chime in on that feature.

Don Kuykendall said:

If you will increase the contrast a little it will help the sharpness. Are you shooting in RAW? and if so what are you using to process it with?

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I'm shooting .jpg fine at the moment and have Photoshop Elements 5 for manipulating. I have just ordered 13. I'm not sure PSE will work om RAW files?

canuck257 said:

I'm shooting .jpg fine at the moment and have Photoshop Elements 5 for manipulating. I have just ordered 13. I'm not sure PSE will work om RAW files?

Click to expand...

Not sure about PSE 5 but PSE 13 will work with RAW files. You will get much better results when you learn to process RAW files properly.

But as long as you are shooting JPG Fine Large make sure you adjust the sharpness settings in the camera.

If you are shooting JPG I would suggest that you use the Fine>>Large setting and also set your camera for better sharpness.



Go into your Menus and highlight the "Shooting" menu (the camera icon)

Drop down to "Picture Controls" and click right one time.

From here, highlight "Standard" and then click right one time.

From this settings menu, increase the "Sharpness" setting to "7".

Drop down and increase the "Saturation" setting +1 notch on the slider.

Press "OK" to exit the menus and you're done.

How's this?



I think the focus point is better and I have sharpened it and added contrast.

Don, thank you for the menu tip which I have input and saved.

I think you will see a nice improvement in sharpness next time you shoot.

I have just tried to input into this shot with PSE 5 what I have learned above. This skinny little guy has obviously just woken up from his winter nap.

D5300 doesn't have the LENS FINE TUNE unfortunately. Ha! (Unless I missed it someplace, but I have looked numerous times.)