My first picture

[mikemc]

Here is a picture i took in my back yard.  I did process it.  I have a Cannon Rebel XTi.  I would take any tips you guys my have for me.  Thanks!!!

[huntnphool]

Welcome to the site

[mikemc]

Thanks!!  I have been lurking for a while just never posted up!

[Skinner]

Nice bushy tail!  There are some good tips in this forum especially the new wildlife photography ones pope just wrote up.  Take the time they're worth reading.

[boneaddict]

I like how you used the light.  Great way to start posting.

[popeshawnpaul]

Here were your settings:

ISO 1600
F9
1/640th shutter speed
focal length 300mm

I'm not sure if you picked those settings or the camera did.  It looks fine at this site but 1600 ISO can be a bit noisy or grainy.  You had plenty of light, so you could have dropped that down to ISO 200 or 400.  That would have given you 2-3 stops less light.  Now what to do with less light?  Well, your selection of f9 wasn't awful because of your lens.  I'm assuming it is a zoom with 300mm on the long end.  Those lenses aren't noted for their sharpness so stopping down a few stops to f9 when you don't have a distracting background is a decent choice.  Those extra couple stops you would be losing you could take off that shutter speed and you would be ok at 1/250th or so.  You could afford to drop a little aperture to f8. 

All in all, not bad.  As you see you can always nitpick stuff to death.  Sometimes it is good to see and question why every setting is what it is.  It helps me learn a lot.

[PacificNWhunter]

Welcome to the site! Great post, there are lots of guys on here that can help you with camera questions. Look forward to more of your pic's.

[mikemc]

Thanks everyone!  i took that picture last fall.  I set the camera to ISO 1600 to see what it did.  I have read most of the post in here and have learned a TON!!!!  I am going to Oak Creek Saturday with my wife i cant wait to get some great pictures of elk and the big horns. 
Mike

[mikemc]

Here is another picture from that day.  Same settings.

[boneaddict]

Best way to shoot the feeding station is to try to isolate the animals so it isn't feedlot like.  You can almost always still tell, but it does enhance the quality of the picture.  ANother good time is prior to feeding a bit.  The animals start getting ancy and move around a bit.  They aren't all standing there with hay coming out of their mouths.  The animals are pretty mucky right at the moment. 

[huntnphool]

Not bad for 1600 though considering one of the knocks on the Rebel is its noise past 800 when compared to the 20D, 40D and 50D. If you took it in RAW you could adjust it a bit to make it look even better.

[ivarhusa]

A few tips.

Blur from movement is almost always worse than graininess from "ASA" (using 1600 for example). Useful images can be pulled out of dimmer light by underexposing two stops (in return for shutter speed), then PhotShopping to bring the brightness back up.

Pictures over snow get under exposed routinely. One can 'shop them back, but it is a good idea to add one or two stops to the exposure to get it "about right" to begin with.

The 10 Mpixels you have go a long way, but there is not much that can replace "cropping the image in the camera" by using a telephoto lens.  I put a 28-200 lens on my Xti and use it for everything (not changing lenses, in part because I have no others).

From my Xti:

Ivar

[boneaddict]

good tips.

[mikemc]

thanks for all the tips!!!  I have learned a lot from all you guys!!

[RPM]

welcome thats the best part getting to see all the pics. i have the same camera, so thanks mr. pope for the tips