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OK, I probably need some help here.
Lots of firsts with this image.
1. First time shooting Birds.
2. First time using a D300
3. First time shooting in RAW other than mucking about.
4. First time Ive done RAW processing by myself proper.
I need to know the following.
1. Have I gone in to close ??
2. Have I over processed it ??
3. Have I over sharpened it ??
The only things I did, were, on the RAW conversion thingiee was check my exposure, checked my white balance, do the recovery thing ?? Slide the black slider back, and adjust the clarity and vibrance.
I lightened it a little too.
Dont really like asking this but I think it looks better large. Would appreciate you looking and commenting and giving me any help at all that you would think I could benefit from 
Thanks everyone.
Lee
| Title: | My First Bird Image |
| Username: | 
WelshKiwi |
| Uploaded: | 12 May 2008 - 5:09 PM |
| Camera: | Nikon D300  Check out Nikon Nation! |
| Lens: | Sigma 300mm 2.8 |
| Recording media: | RAW (digital) |
| Tags: | Birds, Captive, General, Mid wales falconry centre, Owl, Pets / captive animals, Pm photography readers challenge, Wildlife / nature |
| Votes: | Voting Disabled |
 | Critique Wanted |
| Modifications Welcome (Upload a Modification) |
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Comments
1. A little, because the full circle of the birds head maybe needs to be seen, but the plus point is there is nothing at either side of the head to catch the eye.
2. No, looks ok to me.
3. No again, the large version looks fine.
Focus it where it needs to be, on the beak and eyes, and it does grab the attention from the thumbs
Thank you.
I have a habit of going in too close with everything, it is done on purpose but me thinks it is not obvious so it may look wrong.
Ive got ones with the full roundness of the face but Im saving those for the submission I have to do very soon..... Just want and need some advice first....
Thanks again, great Crit peeps
well since you wont have any idea what I will be talking about I shall do my best to critique this in a foreign language
jeg synes den er en meget fint billede, den er ikke så slemt i hvert faeld! det er en godt forst prove.
farvener er godt og så er composition, jo! Jeg synes den er godt knock!
tak.
After my tea I ma going to work on this a bit see what I can come up with
Quote: Well since you wont have any idea what I will be talking about I shall do my best to critique this in a foreign language
jeg synes den er en meget fint billede, den er ikke så slemt i hvert faeld! det er en godt forst prove.
farvener er godt og så er composition, jo! Jeg synes den er godt knock!
tak.
ROFL Luis!
Lee, your wol's a teensy bit cross-eyed, but it is sharp round there at least
Possibly a tad fuzzy at the edges (and I don't mean cos he's fluffy!)
Great first effort with the camera and RAW though!
Generally either include all the face or crop in even closer than this.
Colouring looks a little on the red side on my monitor - but it helps cos I know the owl in question and Cheep really is quite grey and white.
Doesn't look over-sharpened.
Probably needed a bit more DOF. Not sure what aperture you shot at (I guess I should know, but I don't).
The rear feathers to the side of the eye just need to be a little sharper.
Hi Lee,
the composition is a question of taste. I don't think you're too close, but others might do. It aint oversharpened either from what I can see large. The only niggly thing for me is the feather detail on the edges which is lost to the background.
HTH
Lucy
Other than a closer crop this is one dam fine shot, well done
victor
PMSL @ Louis, sorry though, I talk kiwi and can not understand a word you just wrote lol
Look foward to the mod though.....
IMHO taste is very subjective and we don't need to look for a SINGLE best composition. My first impression was I would like to see the entire face. I also tried cropping to just include the sides of the head side-to-side, and from just above the "eyebrows" to just below the beak up-and-down. And I was surprised how striking the resulting image is. Blow it up big and it would scare the hell out of my cat (actually he is sufficiently intelligent not to be fooled by pictures). The D300 is a truly excellent tool and I am sure you will grow to love it. If you are using Nikon's Capture NX software - it is incredibly slow and somewhat unstable on my computer. I don't think it is oversharpened either, by the way
I want to vote!!!!!! 
Nice and sharp, and you've already had the best criticism from the Lady who took you there!
Fran x
Thank You Everyone.
Ive looked back at the original image and I must agree with Cheryl, it is a tad too red.
I wont pull this though, rather, I will work on another and post that tomorrow, that way we/I can compare how Im improving or not improving lol with a like for like image.
Im sure its easier to work on than a jpeg image though, am I right ???
Thans again all, I really do appreciate it.
Lee
LOL @ Lois its cool. Not sure how it would go down with the natural history gang though....
But I like it
Actually just looked at the crop and realised why it looked odd last night.
The left hand side of the face is sharper than the right. Which is why my eye was drawn to the softness. When doing these shots you need to try and get parallell to the face to ensure maximum DOF.
But I probably should have told you that at the time
Quote: The left hand side of the face is sharper than the right.
You have some blown out detail on the other side as well as appearing soft - which nobody has mentioned.
Thank you all for your comments, much appreciated. Next time I do this I will remember all the help and advice.
Lee
What shutter speed was this? The eyes look like they're the feature furthest back (but I don't know owls really). So the feathers that are soft, could it be that they are moving in the breeze?
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