A couple nature photos for you to critique

Sigma 15-30mm f/3.5-4.5 EX Aspherical DG DF for Minolta

01/05/2007 02:27:11 PM · #1

I have a couple nature photos that I am quite proud of, one from a couple years ago. But, with my new Photoshop skills, I think I have given them new life. I have supplied links to the smaller versions of both (in the spirit of the Forum rules) but I think you can still see their main attributes/flaws. I hope you like them but please be honest in your evaluations and suggestions as I am ALWAYS open to learning how to even more enjoy photography.

Insect Hunting

No Discrimination Here

Message edited by author 2007-01-05 14:29:46.

MrEd

Sony DSLR-A100

01/05/2007 02:27:54 PM · #2

Linkies no work :(

01/05/2007 02:30:43 PM · #3

WOW ... you are fast ... only posted half a minute ago ... fixed now :)

candlerain

Canon EOS-30D

01/05/2007 02:39:47 PM · #4

Good potential, but out of focus.

Kaups

Canon EOS-50D

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

01/05/2007 02:41:05 PM · #5

Originally posted by candlerain:

Good potential, but out of focus.

Agreed.

witam

Canon EOS-40D

01/05/2007 02:44:28 PM · #6

No discimination here: you seem to have a lot of noise. Did you use a high ISO? What bothers me a bit is that the white on the bird in focus looks burned out.

Insect hunting: as said before: slightly out of focus + also a small spot that is burned out (above the eye)but i'm not sure one can avoid it when water is at play.

Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM

01/05/2007 04:09:25 PM · #7

Ok ... neither shot is in perfect focus. I tried to compensate in the post processing to no avail, I guess. ... what looks like a burn on the big bird is probably a bit too much unsharp mask. As you see here, using the noise despeckle softens the noise in the background but shows how REALLY out of focus (due to bird movements) that the front bird is. I guess you can't really fix not enough light for the job. This was shot at ISO 160, f3.7 and 1/360 of a sec. (No DOF)

NDH 2 (Noise despeckled ... background smoother ... sharpness lost)

Re: Burnt out highlights on the frog ... I could NOT find a way to soften that ... as you say water in play ... but the focus left a LOT to be desired anyways ... He was shot at 1/145th at f4, ISO 50 ... The lighting was good enough here that I could have gone to f8 with with a slower shutter speed here with this still subject and gotten better DOF. Also I may have had an area auto-focus mode on instead of a spot one to grab the frog.

Thanks for all your comments so far ... the more you talk the more I see. I am learning every day.

witam

Canon EOS-40D

01/05/2007 04:25:44 PM · #8

Originally posted by Greetmir:

A f3.7 would have caused the first bird to be out of focus, not its own movements. 1/360 would have prevented loss of sharpness because of movement. I'm actually quite sure that for birds wandering around on the ground can be shot with less than 1/360 and still be in focus, which in turn would have allowed you to up your f-value.

Originally posted by Greetmir:

NDH 2 (Noise despeckled ... background smoother ... sharpness lost)

I can't access it.. the page does not exist.

Originally posted by Greetmir:

Re: Burnt out highlights on the frog ... I could NOT find a way to soften that ... as you say water in play ... but the focus left a LOT to be desired anyways ... He was shot at 1/145th at f4, ISO 50 ... The lighting was good enough here that I could have gone to f8 with with a slower shutter speed here with this still subject and gotten better DOF. Also I may have had an area auto-focus mode on instead of a spot one to grab the frog.

It indeed looks more like a wrong focus when you explain it like that.

Tamron 70-180mm F/2.8 Di III VXD

01/05/2007 05:33:18 PM · #9

"I can't access it.. the page does not exist."

... sorry ... typo on the file name ... fixed now.

"A f3.7 would have caused the first bird to be out of focus"

That is why I put (no DOF) but forgot to remove the "bird movements" comment after I looked at the EXIF.

P.S. Thank you so much for taking the time for your insight and comments ... I am eating it up!

I am learning a lot of theory but I am having trouble getting it all on one page when working with a shot ... if you know what I mean.

Message edited by author 2007-01-05 17:54:46.

MadMan2k

Sony Alpha a6400

01/06/2007 12:30:08 AM · #10

It comes with practice, the things you learn just become second nature. It's also a LOT easier to focus with optical viewfinders than an LCD or EVF on a fixed lens camera. When you move to an SLR, you'll be able to tell if it's in focus or not, but the DOF gets even shallower then.

krafty1

Nikon D80

Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II

01/06/2007 12:44:17 AM · #11

Could you post the pre-pp'd versions of these?

01/06/2007 01:19:08 AM · #12

Sure Krafty ... thanks for your interest. Here you go.

FROG-Resized_Only

Birds-Resized_Only

... there ya go ...

Message edited by author 2007-01-06 01:21:19.

01/06/2007 09:06:00 AM · #13

I did this one today. I think it is much better. (F8 even though rainy)

Rain Triplets

What do you think?

candlerain

Canon EOS-30D

01/06/2007 11:24:39 AM · #14

It is getting sharper!

violinist123

Canon EOS-6D

01/06/2007 11:53:45 AM · #15

Still out of focus. What shutter speed, etc?

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D

01/06/2007 01:16:11 PM · #16

bah ... I am all wet ... that was f 3.7 too at 1/25 of a second ...

That was a zoom shot from my doorway but on a tripod. I will do a proper macro shortly and see if my auto-focus is out or not.

Message edited by author 2007-01-06 13:24:41.

wavelength

Nikon D300

01/06/2007 02:16:22 PM · #17

I think some of the sharpness can be directly attributed to the less than stellar optics, and the tiny sensor size of the camera you are using.

I have to wonder, are you using digital zoom? This may account for some of the blurriness of the pictures. Turn digital zoom off if your are, you can crop in photoshop later, no reason to do it in the camera.