Upclose with a hummingbird

[HE15MAN]

C&C please, I am new with less that 800 shots under my belt, so have plenty to learn. Photobucket quality degradation doesn't do it justice.

Thanks in advance

 

[Ruahrc]

Just a couple of thoughts:

1) The bird blends into the large branch in the background. Moving a little to the left/right such that the bird was set against a greener part of the background would help make it stand out better

2) There is not enough interest/context in the background to make it an effective environmental portrait. Thus, much of the background is unnecessary and a tighter crop might be more effective.

 

[NathanCH]

How close did you get? It would be great if you posted some EXIF information such as the focal length, shutter speed, aperture, etc.

It looks like you got some pretty good bokeh in the background, but I agree with Ruahrc, a crop might help. Also, the bird itself looks a bit soft... it could be photobucket as you mentioned, but applying some sharpening in Photoshop (if you have it) will be make it sharper.

 

[gnd]

How close did you get? It would be great if you posted some EXIF information such as the focal length, shutter speed, aperture, etc.

Camera Maker: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS REBEL T2i
Image Date: 2010:04:24 11:35:05
Focal Length: 250.0mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 0.025 s (1/40)
ISO equiv: 100
Exposure Program: aperture priority (3)
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Manual
Flash Fired: No
Color Space: sRGB

And if you want to know where:
EXIF GPS IFD
* GPS Latitude Reference = N
* GPS Latitude = 26/1,1612/100,0/1 [degrees, minutes, seconds] ===> 26° 16.12′ == 26.268667°
* GPS Longitude Reference = W
* GPS Longitude = 80/1,1031/100,0/1 [degrees, minutes, seconds] ===> 80° 10.31′ == 80.171833°

Which looks on the map to be Trade Winds Park South in Florida.
Here is a helpful link with the exif information.

 

[mtbdudex]

Is that a tag I see on the RH leg?

I agree on the composition, try cropping - keeping rule 1/3's, PP for sharpness, and re-posting to see if this shot has possibility for more interesting appeal.

 

[NathanCH]

I think the reason it's so soft is because 1/40th shutter speed. I would have raised the ISO to 200 for the sake of getting a faster shutter.

Even if you were on a tripod, that wouldn't stop the branch from swaying in the wind slightly.

 

[HE15MAN]

Is that a tag I see on the RH leg?

I agree on the composition, try cropping - keeping rule 1/3's, PP for sharpness, and re-posting to see if this shot has possibility for more interesting appeal.

That is a crop. The original is much larger. I am just not that good and knowing how to crop things yet. Should I upload the original so you guys can give me pointers?

 

[HE15MAN]

Just a couple of thoughts:

1) The bird blends into the large branch in the background. Moving a little to the left/right such that the bird was set against a greener part of the background would help make it stand out better

2) There is not enough interest/context in the background to make it an effective environmental portrait. Thus, much of the background is unnecessary and a tighter crop might be more effective.

I agree, I do need to pay more attention to backgrounds. I currently am still thinking 80% about camera settings, and 20% about taking the picture. I spend more time tinkering than actually taking pictures, and get overwhelmed sometimes when I get a chance for a good shot and just take it to make sure i get it.

 

[HE15MAN]

Something I dont understand is why when i look at it on my iMac, you can see greens and colors on the wing, and the picture is just 10x better. Is that much quality lost with sending to photobucket?

Are there better options?

 

[compuwar]

Using fill flash would have helped tremendously.

Paul

 

[scaredpoet]

Something I dont understand is why when i look at it on my iMac, you can see greens and colors on the wing, and the picture is just 10x better. Is that much quality lost with sending to photobucket?

Are there better options?

I usually prefer to post pictures to flickr, or sometimes even to my own webserver so I know nothing has changed.

For something quick and dirty, you can also try imgur.

Did you shoot this RAW? It might help to do a little extra processing. I would bring this into Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom and increase the fill light to see if that brings the subject out a little more.

 

[HE15MAN]

I usually prefer to post pictures to flickr, or sometimes even to my own webserver so I know nothing has changed.

For something quick and dirty, you can also try imgur.

Did you shoot this RAW? It might help to do a little extra processing. I would bring this into Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom and increase the fill light to see if that brings the subject out a little more.

Yes I shot in raw, and I have Aperture 3. Any tips with that?

 

[stagi]

I agree with Ruahrc, the background is a little distracting and takes away from the bird. Try and shoot him against more of the green, also you can drop down the f-stop a bit to have even less of a depth of field.

 

[idtaminger]

I agree, I do need to pay more attention to backgrounds. I currently am still thinking 80% about camera settings, and 20% about taking the picture. I spend more time tinkering than actually taking pictures, and get overwhelmed sometimes when I get a chance for a good shot and just take it to make sure i get it.

If there's not a specific shot that I'm looking to get I will shoot on shutter-priority or aperture-priority, and adjust stuff like exposure, etc. as needed. That way it takes a lot less fiddling to get the shot I want. I'm a beginner too and I think it makes the learning curve a lot easier for me.