First bird photos with T2i, C&C please

Had my camera for a little more than a month now. I'm back again with my second C&C request. Went to two wildlife refuges with my friend who is an avid bird photographer. These are some shots, all but the second one are taken with 55-250 IS lens. The second is with my friend's 300 IS L. Any suggestions welcome on what could improve these.

They are all very nice. For the small birds, I try to envision where they might land, in an area without branches blocking the view. That works sometimes to avoid the distracting branches. Other people remove them in post processing, but I don't do any of that. I just go to an area where the birds are feeding. First they will fly away, and then later if I'm still enough, a few will come back closer so I can get some good photographs of them. That takes patience...sometimes I'll wait for more than an hour. But it's worth it, when you get those closeups.

I don't like the heron in B&W. I think that converting to B&W has ruined the image.

The other three are all very nice. I particularly like the fourth one because of the composition and the catchlight in the eye.
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Chris R

the fourth is my fav. the composition is great. nice to know you can take great shots like this with kit lenses.

Nice start and I know you're having fun. Birds are wonderful portraits, IMO. Keep at it.

The first one really ought to be in portrait, not landscape layout, I think. I'd crop off the right side.

The second one would be much nicer if you cropped closer and didn't have that stick right behind his head, but I know how that can be.

The Great Blue Heron in black and white? Why? Black and White does not make an image more artsy. If you don't like it in color, B&W won't make it better. Personally, I see no reason ever to do birds in monochrome. Half the wonder of birds are their colors. Again, I'd crop much closer.

The last is my favorite, but again, in my opinion needs to be cropped closer. Nice job in catching the eye glint. Nice sharp image too.

Overall, great job. Keep them coming. You're going to need a nice Canon 400 f/5.6 or something soon.
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Cheers, Craig

Equipment in Plan via Profile

Thank you all for you comments and encouragement. My friend also gives me very good tips so that reduces my learning curve too. I struggled to bring the heron out as the scene just has too much cluttered background. I experimented with b&w trying to suppress some shadows. Still didn't work well. Is this any better, or tighter crop will improve it ? One thing I really appreciated the usefulness of cropping with 18MP sensor. It will help me as long as I don't have a longer lens.

I see now why you tried B&W but I think that this is one shot to just dump.

Increasing the saturation might help a bit, but the reeds are a dreadful colour in this light.
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Chris R

ins0mn1ac said:

Had my camera for a little more than a month now. I'm back again with my second C&C request. Went to two wildlife refuges with my friend who is an avid bird photographer. These are some shots, all but the second one are taken with 55-250 IS lens. The second is with my friend's 300 IS L. Any suggestions welcome on what could improve these.

Click to expand...

all good pics, the 300mm prime L is the sharpest but for birds 400mm is better

Some bird shooters love to show extra room around the bird. I don't. It's a matter of choice. In fact, I like head-shots about as well as I like any.

I'd also give up on that Great Blue Heron unless you crop it severely, then maybe it will still not suit. Put some more up.

Here's three where I'm cropped in about like I do and a head shot of a Great Blue









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Cheers, Craig

Equipment in Plan via Profile

Hi Guidenet, yes I have given up on that heron Will try next time. Your pics are brilliant! I doubt I can get that close because I don't have that much reach with my 55-250. Which lens did you use ? And I'm just a novice, a month into my DSLR journey, so I'll have to crop and learn with this lens before I can even dream about getting more expensive lenses.