Goosander (1 Viewer)

Any suggestions to improve this ,I,m still learning.

Hi Henry

I have used the 1/3rd rule when Cropping the subject to place a focal point of interest ( head, eyes etc) on one of these imaginary boundries, this often makes a picture more interesting.

I have also adjusted the levels to put more tonal range into the pebbles in the foreground.

See what you think.

Robert

Thanks Robert, I,m also trying to get to grips with SerifPhotoPlus 10.to enhance pics, The camera is a 350d and es80 scope.

I am afraid I have no knowledge of SerifPhotoPlus I am lucky enough to get a copy of Photoshop via my work. I suspect the scope introduces an amount of flare which lightens the dark colours. I used the burn tool on mid tones and shadows set to 3% to restore colour. Think of it as using T-cut on the paint work of your car, it removes the top layer bloom to restore the orginal colour of the paint.

Robert

Very good result with the DSLR+scope as regards detail.

A couple of things spring to mind -

- Proportions - It could just the angle the bird is stood at but it does look a little strangely stretched. When reducing the size of a photo it's worth always bearing in mind that it's better to crop to a particular size such as 1600x1200 and then reduce size using % e.g 1600x1200 x 50% = 800x600 which maintains the proportions rather than resizing from a 2000x1200 to 800x600 directly as this will give a wide stretched appearance.

- Point of focus. Focus is pretty good here, but it looks to me as if the actual point of focus is on the right flank rather than the head/eye. With any digiscoping depth of field is minimal so on a big bird such as this really cititcal focus should be on the head/eye. I don't know what settings you used here, but with the bird looking as if it's asleep or at least sedentary I'd have cranked up the aperture a good bit even if it meant going down to 1/30 or even 1/15 sec and on occasion 1/8 sec. I don't know how your camera opertates but one of the disadvantages of using a DSLR over a compact is that you don't use the LCD for taking the actual shot. On a compact camera for this shot I'd have locked focus by half depressing the shutter and then used the scope focus control to refocus on the head. On this shot with the head angle that may have been difficult, but a good tip bearing in mind the centre of balance for a bird is usually when the head if over the line of the feet - is that try for critical focus on the feet instead of the flank - it works with Geese!

- Pose - Unless you're looking for an unusual shot, the bird should be in a natural looking pose looking towards the camera - even if by the slightest of angles rather than away from it as in this case. This one to me looks as if it's asleep with head tilted over to it's left side. I do love the setting though - very natural looking and good demonstration and use of depth of field with the pebbles about the bird being sharp and those behind drifting out of focus. Maybe the focus point could have been a few inches more on the bird so it would be more blurred in front as well as behind. In terms of depth of field for any given aperture from the point of focus I believe it's 1/3 distance in front and 2/3 behind is about right (I think I got that the right way round).

- Composition is the biggest concern here. The 1/3 rule is a rough guide and certainly works well in many situations. With birds the biggest thing to remember is that it's generally better to have the bird looking into the photo or at least certainly positioned with a bit of space in front of the direction in which the bird is faced. In this case the bird should be positioned to the left of the photo with space to it's right - more like the photo below. If the bird had it's head over it's back then, the body would be positioned to the right with more room to the left.

Reading this back it does sound very critical but they are meant as helpful tips on points that I have picked up from members past and present though reading thier posts and studying their photos. Something to think about anyway - it sounds a lot to consider, but if you can bear them in mind when actually taking the photo it saves time on the computer later.

Serif Photo Plus is a decent photo package - I have an earlier version and whilst not as polished as PSP and PS, it's got some very useful powerful tools. Most digital photos need at least some degree of sharpening/unsharp mask and many benefit from adjustment of levelos to some degree, so it's worth practicing. Having said that there's nothing more satisfying than taking a photo that simply needs cropping/unsharp mask.

Thanks for the pointers Ian,all very helpful and appreciated.This bird sat preening and resting on an island on the Spey this afternoon ,I had to give up when it started to rain.here is another shot.

Not quite as sharp as the last one - but certainly an unusual pose. Maybe a sqaure format would be more suited with a title - 'Was that me?' 3

I hope Ian does not mind me applying my levels technique to his crop. It's ashame the point of focus was not a few inches further back it would of brought out such detail on the bird. I was tempted to put more space in front on the bird on my crop but decided not to as I found the blurred pebbles are quiet distracting here. I think if the plane of focus had been on the head you would of had a cracking shot after a bit of retouching.

Ian's advice on composition is very sound.

Robert