[Nickhyena]

I am 20 years old and really trying to get into wildlife photography. I'd appreciate all comments about this photo, good and bad. Thanks

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Nick,

That's superb - a really good action shot!

Michael

[barontan2418]

Nice one Nick, Beautiful bird and a great shot. Well done keep up the good work.

Mick .

[Nightranger]

Originally Posted by Nickhyena

I am 20 years old and really trying to get into wildlife photography. I'd appreciate all comments about this photo, good and bad. Thanks

Congrats Nick. I have been trying to catch swallows and martins in flight for years and never really succeeded, perhaps I should try something 'easier'. Not that in-flight pics are easy for any bird so you have done well with this one, particulalrly as you caught the upstroke so well.

[John N]

Hi Nick. You asked for Criticism on your photo. So here it is. I wish I had taken it! It's super. Keep up the good work. All the very best. John.

[Nickhyena]

Thanks very much for your great comments guys. Ian, i'd love to see some of your inflight swallows or martin shots? I tried it last week, but they are so quick and usually fly at a reasonable height over my house. How are you going about doing it? What lense etc?

[johnty52]

Hiy Nick,
Nice shot of the Kite, looks pretty sharp, which is something to practice at on in-flight shots.
I have only one suggestion to make and that would be to crop out a lot of the sky as it really doesnt add to the pic.
Be harsh in your cropping, leaving in only as much as needed to convey what you want.
In this case, the Kite is the only thing to focus on, so crop tight.
Good luck.
Johnty

[Quacker]

Hello Nick

As already mentioned, it's a very good shot of the Kite. I would like to know the details of the shot, i.e. I assume it wasn't digi-scoped. What gear and settings were used and approx distance from the bird?

I know this is secondary, but I'm intrigued by the whole Digi v SLR v DSLR competition.

Regards

Steve

[sungrebe]

Originally Posted by Nickhyena

I am 20 years old and really trying to get into wildlife photography. I'd appreciate all comments about this photo, good and bad. Thanks

Looks great to me. DIgital??

[leon]

Great shot!. Good focus and light. I agree with Johnty and would crop a bit tighter.

[Nickhyena]

Thanks for yet more comments.

Johnty, with regard to the cropping of the shot, I thought about it very carefully. I wanted it to look as though it was flighing at height searching on the ground which made me crop the bird to the top right of the photo. However, I do agree that it does look nice cropped in tight. I think it may just be one of those personal preference things...or maybe I will soon learn that your advice is the only correct way of cropping such a photo as I still have a lot to learn about photography. Thanks for your constuctive comment. ;-)

Quacker, your right, it wasn't digi-scoped. I used to 70 - 300mm lense at 260mm on a canon EOS 300d camera. I also had it set on a mono-pod which is my new favorite toy (so useful). It was at 1.2000 sec at f5.6. Hope this helps.

Thanks all again for your nice comments. Very kind of you to take the time to write something.

[helenol]

Nice pic, but it does look better cropped.

Regards

[alibenn]

Nice shot, I agree that it should be cropped, but not as much as Johnty52 did, as the focus and detail aren't high enough to warrant such close scrutiny. Cropping is a very personal thing and I wouldn't get pushed into a corner on it. The photograph should be saying what you want it to say. You won't please everybody everytime.

Keep at it... Alister

[Nickhyena]

Thanks Alister. Thats very true, i've cropped it already. I don't want to have to to start losing quality. If only I had the lense I really wanted then I could get that extra 100mm! :-)
Still saving for the 100-400 f5.6 IS