Critique of my Robin Please (1 Viewer)

mipettin · Feb 16, 2004

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Hi

I joined today - so please go easy on me

Attached is a piccie that I have posted in the gallery that I took on Saturday morning whilst the wife was out shopping.

I was looking after the children but set up my Olympus C740UZ on the kitchen window sill on my Jessops flexipod.

My 3yr old son had made a bird pudding at playgroup which I had strung up on a small apple tree.

I was trying to get shots of blue tits and great tits without success - difficult to take shots holding a baby!

Anyway our local Robin visited - and this is the snap I attach. Question how can I improve?

The camera was set with ISO100, aperture set at lowest on full zoom which was F3.7, shutter speed automatic and worked out at 1/50 to 1/60.

One thing I think I did wrong was failing to spot meter on the bird - I think the camera has used the pudding for exposure.

Look forward to comments

Martin

scampo · Feb 16, 2004

The bird's spot on - the white object is overexposed because the contrast is too high. Did you use flash, even to "fill in" the shadows? If so that would explain it - but any strong light source coming from the front (i.e. sunshine) can easily create an excess of contrast.

In Photoshop / PS Elements, you can use the "burn" tool to add more detail to the over-exposed areas such as the "pudding" - but always go back to the original shot to do this.

Well done, eh? Are we going to be treated to more?

mipettin · Feb 16, 2004

Sun was highish and bright

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Thanks scampo

I just checked my camera and I took this at 09:15 and the sun wasn't that bright. I will try some more shots this weekend - weather dependant. Not least as there was a tree sparrow and a great tit showing interest in my son's bird pudding. I am going to try spot metering the bird and using exposure lock and see how I get on.

Martin
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scampo · Feb 16, 2004

Spot metering is a good idea - but in a shot like this, it won't really help as the subject is perfectly exposed. The problem is with the large degree of contrast in the scene. There is only so much latitude that the image sensors / film emulsion can cope with and here it has been exceeded, without post processing adjustments.

I attach a doctored version of the web image to show one way of tackling it - very rushed and far from ideal. You would be able to produce a far more natural shot from the original image.

helenol · Feb 16, 2004

How about just cropping out the pudding, concentrating instead on the robin? Just a thought.

yellow_belly · Feb 17, 2004

Hi - it is quite a nice shot but there are always improvements that can be made

Personally I would concentrate on the main subject i.e. the Robin and do away with the pudding, however in your case I would think the pudding is just as important to the picture as the Robin as your son made it

so there is no right and wrong way of doing it.

The background is a little distracting to me so I would personally try and get a view point that reduced this and shoot in Aperture priority at maximum aperture to blur the background as much as possible

Having said that it is quite a nice shot anyway.

Terry

scampo · Feb 17, 2004

helenol said:
How about just cropping out the pudding, concentrating instead on the robin? Just a thought.

It is a very fine shot of a robin, so this might be worthwhile if the enlargement will take it without losing quality - a bit of cropping and retouching would produce a lovely composition - but only of the robin; of course it does depend on what was wanted in the shot.

I can well remember when I was a youngster enjoying making those suet-cakes - it was a very fulfilling thing to do and attracted no end of birds back in those days. I don't get nearly so many birds in my garden these days, but then any fat ball I put out is immediately filched by one of two local grey squirrels - as I suspect later in the spring are a good many bird's eggs and even fledglings.

Joe A. · Feb 17, 2004

Just a thought. Not familiar with your camera, but the one I use, cp4500, has a setting to reduce contrast. I keep it set to "less contrast" pretty much all the time.

mipettin · Feb 17, 2004

Good point about the contrast

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Joe A

Thanks for the suggestion about the contrast - I seem to recall reading the same comment somewhere else about my Olympus Camera - I think it was in a review article. I am so inspired by everyone's constructive comment that I am going to add some more pictures for a critique. I went out at lunchtime today - it is a fine sunny day here in Scotland and tried to shoot some ducks - with the camera of course!

Martin
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scampo · Feb 17, 2004

It's a dank, damp and utterly uninspiring day here, Martin. Look forward to seeing your shots! That robin was a brilliant start.

And as there's been a recent birds and poetry thread...

"A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage;
Martin's redbreast in a tree
Fills me full of jealousy..."

(With apologies to the great William Blake).

mipettin · Feb 17, 2004

Ducks and Gulls

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Scampo

I went out at lunch today and was disappointed with my efforts. I learnt a lot though:

There was hardly a cloud in the sky and the combination of a very bright sun and harsh light - early morning and late evening are kinder to photography meant I struggled with contrast and exposure.

I did like the black headed gull I took though and I have added that to my gallery. I have also added some pictures of mallards I took to the critique section - as they did not come out too well.

Interesting camera my Olympus C740 and I feel I am getting better with practise - the key is getting the focus lock. I am off again on Thursday afternoon so fingers crossed for the weather.

I want to try and catch some more visitors to the bird pudding. No grey squirrels seen unfortunately I am too far south for red squirrels. I do want to catch a tree sparrow and dunnock too that visit my small garden.

Thanks for everyone's comments I feel I have learnt soo much this week, this is a great forum.

Martin

scampo · Feb 17, 2004

Your lucky to see a tree sparrow - like gold dust around here!

I didn't know you were posting to the gallery - you mean BF? I shall have a quick look see!

Leif · Feb 17, 2004

I think it's a nice little picture. I noticed a few signs of over-sharpening, esp. the halo around the branch on which the bird is perched. Also, if you find that some areas are burnt out, or a bit dark, you can do what is called contrast masking, which evens things out a bit. This is an automated version of dodging and burning as suggested by Scampo and is ideal for lazy people like me.

scampo · Feb 17, 2004

Would you tell us how to 'contrast mask', Leif? I've never heard of it before.

Leif · Feb 17, 2004

scampo said:
Would you tell us how to 'contrast mask', Leif? I've never heard of it before.

Steve: Search the Luminous Landscape site. Also look for high pass sharpening. It's good stuff. If you can't find the articles, let me know and I'll post some links.

Leif

christineredgate · Feb 17, 2004

Leif said:
Steve: Search the Luminous Landscape site. Also look for high pass sharpening. It's good stuff. If you can't find the articles, let me know and I'll post some links.

Leif

Are these things actually part of the 4500 set up ,or are they in a digi imaging prog

Leif · Feb 17, 2004

christineredgat said:
Are these things actually part of the 4500 set up ,or are they in a digi imaging prog

They are part of Adobe Photoshop and some other imaging programs, though PS is the only one I am familiar with. Photoshop Elements might do it if it has layers and channels?

Greg Scott · Mar 1, 2004

Just to add to one of the original comments:
I'd suggest cropping it, to eliminate the pudding, unless the pudding has "sentimental" or "documentary" value. It's a fine picture of the bird itself, and the bird is much more attractive than the food. Personally, I would think that if your son took it, and you edited it judiciously, or helped him to do so, and made him a nice print, then it would show that you attached value to his work, and felt that additonal "investment" was being added to a worthy original. I'd hang it on the wall, rather than the refrigerator.
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Rereading the original post, I see that the pudding IS indeed documentary and sentimental. In that case, it should be left in, printed, and put in a scrapbook with a notation to that effect. A great "snap", for such a purpose. I'd edit it to crop, and show just the bird, perhaps, also! An image can be used more than one way.

scampo · Mar 1, 2004

Leif said:
Steve: Search the Luminous Landscape site. Also look for high pass sharpening. It's good stuff. If you can't find the articles, let me know and I'll post some links.

Leif

My that is a good little site, Leif. I wish he did a trial version of those plug-ins; they sound very interesting indeed - but a bit of a risk to just buy them untried.

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