Bird in my backyard

djosh

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Hi All,

This is my 2nd post, just happen to click this of a bird in the backyard

very small and sensitive, this was max close i was able to get, I am not sure which bird this is...any bird enthusiast can help with the name :-),

I am very new to SLR world, any inputs are welcome.





Thanks
DJ
 
That's a nice photo for conditions ans relatively short FL of your lens. It's sharp, well exposed and has nice composition except maybe for the OOF grass in the forground. Have you tried the poor man's FL extender, cropping? I think you may be able to get away with quite a bit of cropping as sharp as it looks here.--
Dave
 
Nice job! I do agree with dlkeller, that's a lot of fuzzy grass in the foreground that doesn't do anything for the photo, lop it off with a crop tool. As a result, the bird will become more prominent.
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Lance
"STILL working on composition"
 
Here are a couple of sample crops. I don't know that they are perfect but they might give an idea or two. The photo is so sharp and background so nice you have lots of optiions. I'll delete these from my gallery in a week.









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Dave
 
Hi Dave,

Thanks for demo photographs, I do agree with you and Lehill that the bird does look more prominent after the crop.
What is "poor man's FL extender", sorry I am new to photography world....

Thanks
DJ
 
FL stands for Focal Length. And he's basically saying cropping your photo is a cheap way to "zoom" in on your subject, as opposed to spending money on a large zoom lens.
 
In order to accurately determine exactly what kind of bird we are looking at we need to know your location. My guess is that it is a Pipit. If you are in the midwest it is probably a Sprague's Pipit. Elsewhere in the US it would be an American Pipit. If you are not in the US then I have no clue.
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Tom Seiler
My portfolio:
http://picasaweb.google.com/SeilerBird/MyPortfolio
Sony a55
Sony a330 Copper
Tamron 200-500mm
Sony 75-300mm
Sony 18-55mm
Rokinon 8mm
 
Hi All,

Took some more pics, have also posted these on another thread which invited wildlife photographs





















Appreciate your inputs!!!

Thanks
DJ
 
They are such nice photos I really hate to criticise so take these as a learning situation, not so much criticsm of your work which is pretty darn good.

1. Maybe zoomed in a little too much cutting off part of tail, but what a nice sharp shot with great brokah!

2, 4. Good sharp shots, the only criticism is the central subject in the composition. Using rule of thirds would give a more attractive composition--which can still be acomplished with cropping.

3,5. Very nice shots except for a little blurring due to motion of the object. If the bird in 3, which I think was in your first photo also, I would guess a member of the mockingbird/catbird family. But from India I really don't have a guess. The last one is really a wondeful shot except for the motion blur. It looks like he is yelling at her and she's jumpring by being startled or something.
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Dave
 
Hi Dave,

Thanks, well all this learning for me so cannot take it as criticism :-).

I was unaware of rule of thirds, so did some study now and it makes more sense, require to learn all these things...

Yes the bird in 3 is one from my earlier picture, did some finding and found out that the bird is "Pipit" mostly likely PaddyField.

Thanks
DJ
 
This bird photography can get addictive. Nice job except too bad the dove wasn't looking your way.
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Dave
 
I was unaware of rule of thirds, so did some study now and it makes more sense, require to learn all these things...
Just remember that the "rule of thirds" is not a rule, and the "thirds" is so loosely defined that it means "not in the center but closer to the center than to the edge.

It's best used as a pedagogical tool to help beginners see and thus conceive of the pictures they are making as having a design (2D arrangement of shapes in a bounded plane) as well as the more "intuitive" composition (3d arrangement of forms in space).

Much of Twentieth Century art thematized the interaction of design and composition.
 
Definitely an Eagle
 
Well stated and very true. The problem with so many photos is the main object, or a very visable object smack dab in the center of the frame and anything that helps them see a better idea for composition is worthwhile.

Of course sometimes, what the photographer knows what they are doing, this centered subject can work--but most of the time it doesn't.
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Dave
 
Guys I might have confused myself, but while the camera is set to spot focus how can one cannot put the subject in the center because in which case the focus goes of the main focus.

On my A33 i have enabled rule of 3 .i.e. my screen is split in 9 equal parts and while clicking small objects for example birds, it usually fits in the center of the squre which again defies the rule.

Imaginary further I can split the center square and try to fit the subject near the center rather than exactly at the center!!!! but still that is too much to do when you the subject is moving all the time.

DJ
 
Guys I might have confused myself, but while the camera is set to spot focus how can one cannot put the subject in the center because in which case the focus goes of the main focus.
It's a technique called "focus and recompose".
  1. Put camera into spot focus or zone focus mode
  2. Put the bird in the middle of the active focus point and press the shutter button half-way. You will see the green square which confirms focus lock and/or hear the beep. Do not release the button.
  3. Recompose the photo so the bird is where you want it to be in final photo.
  4. Press shutter button all the way to take the shot.
See pg 87 of SLT-A33 User Manual

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Lance
"STILL working on composition"
 
Good response and explanation. I wasn't sure if it worked the same on the A33/55 as on other cameras I've used--evidently it does.
--
Dave
 

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