arhb

Caught my eye at thumb size, and I like the image.
It's a shame that the sky is quite bland looking, as a darker moodier sky would set the rest of the image off better (IMO).

You see Sylvia, it's good to get out of your comfort zone now and then : )
This is a wonderful portrait, with nice even lighting and such a great capture of innocence and unknowing.
Maybe for composition's sake crop away a bit on the left of the frame to take the subject off centre.
You'll be using a flash gun next ; )

Those shadows are light and subtle Jon, and give her face some depth, and you've captured a great look here.
I reckon that a snooted hair light from camera right, would enhance the shot though, by creating some depth between the white bg and her hair. Just a thought, and a great series you've got going here Jon.

A good first attempt Buffy, and more importantly, well done for getting out of your comfort zone
Something worth trying, now you have this image, is to place it as a layer on top of the original, and then adjust the transparency of the layer, so that the original starts showing through. You can then start accentuating parts of the original, together with parts of the painted look.

This is a nicely composed shot Carole, well focused, showing the fine whiskers.
A tip to use when possible, is to try to get a subject like this(cat ot dog etc), into a place where the background is distant, as it will not leave anything in the image to distract from the subject.
Hope this helps, and keep snappin' : )

Hi John, nice shot taken from an interesting angle, and as has been mentioned, some good sky interest with the clouds. The image looks great in mono also.
In my mod, I have added more contrast/shadow to the RH elevation, to add some more interest.
If it is of any help, when I sharpen after re-sizing for web, I generally find the the un-sharp mask tool(USM) works well, when set at around 70-0.7-0 for the respective settings, top to bottom.
Also worth mentioning, this same tool(USM), is great for dreating contrast in architectre, when set between 20-20-0 and 40-40-0.
It needs to be experimented with, but worth it.
Hope this helps.

Hi Jeff - nice set of shots you got here, and as you found out, not just a point'n'shoot ; )
Even for static bird shots like these, for hand-held work, start with a s/speed at 1/500 or more. Always focus on the eye, and if it's sunny or bright, always underexpose the shot by 1-2/3rds of a stop. You can always adjust this in PS, but it will stop the beak from getting overexposed, which is often the case.
Also, if possible, take your shots at eye level, as this always looks better than a shot looking down onto a bird, so fine as this one.
Happy shooting.

Just a thought, but maybe a thin grey cloth over the soft box would lessen the reflection.
Also try to fit a deflector inside the softbox to deflect the main beam of light out and onto the reflected surface of the softbox, instead of straight through the front fabric (I dont know if this is fitted already, as part of the softbox - I would like to know either way, as I'm thinking of getting one for my flashgun).

Hi Alan,
this is a very nice poprtrait shot, and I like the use of the hair to partially hide one side of the face.
I have done a mod to reduce the shadows, and wonder whether this might have been possible when setting up the lighting. It's the hair shadow on the left that needs to be softer.

Much as I like the light and the pose you've captured in this shot Sylvia, I'm thinking that the main focus is on the body and wing(nearest), which hes left the eye and surrounding plumage lacking very slightly in detail.
Very nicely composed and presented, and better than any thrush shots I have - which is none.
Vote is for a well captured pose and nice lighting.

Hi Nat, I was drawn to this as it, as a church, is so different from traditional churches in the UK. The gate and the pathway act as a great lead into the image, and there is plenty of interest, both in the architectre and the garden/graveyard.
I did notice that the image was not straight, so I rotated slightly to correct this.
The sky had also lost detail, as so often happens, when the shot was exposed for the church, so I have brought back some cloud detail to enhance the image overall. When you have a bright sky, it often means you need to take 2 shots; one exposed for the sky detail, and one exposed for the ground/land detail. These can then be merged during editing, to create one image, correctly exposed throughout.
I finished my mods by adding some contrast with a broad-edged sharpen.

Great capture Sylvia, which Richard has enhance in his modified version. You have the light(given your settings) to open the aperture up to F8, drop the s/speed to 1/640, and up the iso to 250 for the same meter reading. If the light is there, it would be worth experimenting for more detail.


Quote: In this particular shot I did very little sharpening in the PS RAW editor and left it at that.

It is essential to resharpen after resizing for upload to epz, in order to maintain the detail and sharpness in your image, as the as the resizing soften the image considerably, especially on fine detail such as plumage.

This is a great composite Steve, and well composed.
My immediate observation is the reflection in the eye of the owl, whilst looking away from the obvious light source - a minor point, but worth considering.
My other thought is that if the owl is well focused and detailed(as it is), the moon might look more natural if it was slightly out of focus.
I am distracted too much by the detail in the moon surface, and feel that should be more secondary interest.

Hi Jonah,
although you got a sharp capture here, you've lost detail and light in the plumage. This is because your camera has 'decided' to expose the shot for the light in the sky.
For future info, if you're shooting a subject against a bright sky, use shutter priority, and set to about 1/1000. This will expose for the detail in the subject - ie the plumage colour/detail, whilst still being fast enough to get a sharp capture. You may lose the strong blue colour of the sky, but the sunject detail and colour are the main priority.

Hi Jane, I have to echo the above comments, but this type of photoshop work is worth persevering at. One tip I think will help in blending the subject into the background, is to zoom in to about 400% image size, and then use the blur tool set at 5 pix, and blur the edge of the subject, and/or anything else that has a hard edge that is focused.
You have captured some nice detail in the subject, so no worries there.
May be worth setting up a perch beside a feeder, away from leaves etc, in order to isolate the bird(s) for photography, giving an uncluttered/distactive background.

Hi Sylvia, these shots are good considering the distance you took them from.
I bet you're cursing yourself for not having the 500 to hand : )
The feedback you have above is great, the only other observation I see that could make a difference, is you can set your s/speed to 1/1000, drop this to 1/640ish, and take the aperture to F8. If there is enough light on the subject, near or far, this will give you more detail throughout the subject.

Hi Christine,
you've captured the fall/autumn colours beautifully here, creating a nice framing for the tower.
The sky looks okay, but as the tower is obstructing the horizon, I think you could aford to go from blue fading to a lighter blue, rather than white.
In my mod, I have saturated the entire image to a low degree, and the blue sky moreso.
I also adjusted the contrast and did some sharpening on the tower, to bring out the architectural features.

Hi John, 3 well focused shots of this beautiful creature - the expressions you've capture in all 3 are excellent
My main critique on all 3 shots, would be that they all tend to be shot from above the subjects eye level. Now I do realise that there are reasons why you may not have been able to take the shots from a lower angle, but if you can, it does make a big difference to the look of the subject within the image. Worth experimenting if you get the opportunity.
Personally, for head shots, as in V1, I like to try to get all the plumage in to the frame, or make a more severe crop into the image(as per mod), and the same applies with V3, where it would be good to see all of the tail feathers, rather than leave them out of frame. Possibly zoom out a tad to get these details into frame, although in my experience you have to be quick, before the subject moves, or flies away : )
Hope this is of some help.

You've captured the detail in the plumage beautifully Norma.
Something worth considering next time, is to try to get the shot level with the bird's head. I know this isn't always as straight-forward as it may be, but it does give the bird a greater sense of grandeur, and can also render a very nice soft-focus bg, rather than oof grass.
An excellent first time shot all the same.

Hi Natzdad,
I think the V1 image is superb as a composition, and shows off the upper wing plumage very well, against a nicely blurred backdrop. Upon closer inspection the detail is soft, and there are ways to ensure you get sharper captures in future.
Aim for a shutter speed of >1/1000 if shooting hand-held, but I would really try to get used to panning whilst tripod mounted - it'll make so much difference to the sharpness of the shot. Last time I went to gigrin fm, I used 1/800 and got some good sharp datail.

Focus on the eye of the subject - if this is sharp, all else will look fine.
Sharpen after processing the image in PS, and remember to re-sharpen(lightly), after resizing the image for epz.