please critique my pic

[uplandhunter870]

got a few photography books for xmas and am finally starting to learn my camera, although theyre geared more to dSLR type cameras i figured id try and apply those techniques to my advanced P&S. this falcon landed on the power pole just outside the house the other day figured id try and apply some of my newly found "knowledge"

mainly just curious what some of our good photographers think of my rookie pic, only PP is a crop and a slight touch of brightening, i can post exif data if it would help

Thanks
uplander

[KenPCPilot]

Certainly no pro but I always loved photography.  If you could have positioned the shot with more of the chest and feather pattern of the bird contrasted by the darker back feathers.  It may have given more detail if the bird is the focal point of your shot.  Also the rule of thirds I think it is called really helped me frame my subjects better. (lots of info on that online) Always try to multiple close and wide shots.  experiment with verticle shots to give the bird a taller appearance if that is what you want to emphasize.   If you have decent photo editing software you can tweek a photo file to help with color saturation and contrast. 

[jyerxa]

what kind of camera is your advanced P&S?

[Dmanmastertracker]

 You picked one of the toughest situation's to get good result's, focusing upward's on a cloudy day. The only time you will get really quality detail result's focusing up is on a mostly sunny day, with the sun at your back and the subject facing the sun. Given that it's tough to really judge your photo editing, it does look like you need a bit more zoom for the distance from the subject though if cropping softens beyond this point. Great subject matter however.

[losdaddy7]

Depending on your camera, you may be able to adjust your aperture and shutter settings, or change them to priority modes.  I would play with these settings a bit, as well and changing your iso speeds.  As you begin experimenting with these settings on the same pics, your should see some significant changes in the outcome of your photos.  Trial and error...   

[jyerxa]

  Yup, the ol' trail and error.

In addition, when you have a lot of back light, give your flash a try too. In the right circumstances it is enough to help counter the back light even in the day time.

[boneaddict]

Great subject and good capture.   

I don't play with photoshop much either, but if you watned to play a bit, I'd tone down the bright background and lighten up your critter a bit.   bring your animal out more.  You generally will lose a bit of sharpness with that but......   not sure if you shot in RAW or not.  That would help tons if you did or can in the future.

[Johnb317]

Did you shoot RAW  (no jokes guys) if so you may be able to pull more information out of the shot.  Needed to compensate a little more for the back light.  Or if you have a good sky shot you can lay that in behind. (PP)
RAW is the way to go if you are really serious... 

If you're new to this stuff I'd suggest Adobe Elements... it's a light version of CS5 and a lot less expensive.  Also if you haven't done so  plan your storage/naming convention now... before you have a couple 1000 pics.

I try to not do a lot of PP, and some people get lazy and figure they'll crop etc. later.
Practice good shooting now.  Learn about depth of field, lens compression, Aperture and speed. 
My apologies if you already know this...



Good luck and enjoy...

[uplandhunter870]

what kind of camera is your advanced P&S?

I currently have a canon  sx20is


Thanks for the advice everyone. I have full manual an priority modes on the camera I shot this using full manual plan on getting a full dSLR this summer. But I don't have anyone I know that's into photography so I'm kinda going down this path blind

Thanks again everyone
Uplander

[haugenna]

The bolt on top of the power line appear to have some rust on it.

Just kidding.  Nice picture.

[losdaddy7]

I took some photography courses in school, but once I bought my first DSLR years later, I really had to go through the book with camera in hand and just take some photos with all the different settings.  You may want to check out a book from your library and experiment as you read.......  see link.

http://catalog.ncrl.bywatersolutions.com/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=99153

[popeshawnpaul]

You are never going to get the detail of the bird and background so go for broke.  Do a +1.5 on the exposure compensation so the bird looks good and blow the whites.  About all you can do in this situation.

[grandpawrichard]

Darned Good Shot while fighting some Very Tough lighting condition!

I totally agree with what Shawn told you to do! You can also get rid of a lot of the light back ground by doing a much tighter cropping.

Dick

[JohnVH]

1) rule of 3rds
2) sharpen
3) lighten up the bird so you can see some details
4) maybe a little saturation

[huntnphool]

Here you go Uplandhunter, I could have done better if it was a RAW file but it turned out okay. In the future if you can shoot RAW and jpg at the same time, you will have way more flexability adjusting your images that need it.