LEAVE YOUR EGOS BEHIND. YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS SUCK, YOUR TECHNIQUE'S NOT MUCH BETTER AND WE ALL KNOW IT. DON'T PRETEND YOU'RE ANY DIFFERENT TO THE REST OF US. PHOTOGRAPHY IS HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE. DON'T BE SURPRISED IF SOME COMMENTS ARE MEAN SPIRITED, TOTALLY UNHELPFUL OR EVEN GO OFF TOPIC WITH RELIGION OR POLITICS – SUCK IT UP. HOWEVER AMONGST ALL THIS WILL BE A FEW NUGGETS OF WISDOM THAT MAY ALLOW YOU TO GROW AS A PHOTOGRAPHER.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Owl
Canon EOS 350D with 18-200IS f 3.5-5.6 lens Taken at EFL 320mm, 1/160sec f5.6 and ISO 100
Here's another picture from the Mongolia collection. A little owl sitting on a fence rail. Let the shit stick...
Nicely blurred background. Not sure what you stopped down to here but if you've got the distance between subject and background, you can blur it away.
However the owl is a little small in the frame. If you're going to include lots of background, make sure it's in focus or it's colour compliments/contrasts the subject.
To make it appear larger I would have zoomed all the way in to 320mm EFL and shot vertical. The owl is more vertical than horizontal so it's a more natural fit to the framing device. A vertical crop should also keep enough of the surroundings to give it context but allow us to see more of the owl.
Also the shadow on the right is a little distracting. Perhaps trying another shot from a little more to the left, thus putting the fence railing on a more dynamic angle too.
Overall it looks a little soft. Not sure if you've stopped down too much or are shooting too wide open. Perhaps going for a faster shutter speed to stop any motion. However it looks like a rather static shot. Any wind?
Another idea might be to crop so that you can use the owl's shadow as a leading line originating from the bottom right corner.
Thanks for the comments. To update, the picture was taken at f5.6, and the EFL was 320, rather than 200 which was the zoom length. I'll correct that in the original. It wasn't very windy at the time, but he was a pretty flighty little guy, so didn't stay around for long.
The Good: The background is separated well from the owl and really brings my eye to the subject. The perch has some interesting detail also. It's nice that the lighting on the owl isn't completely flat. Was this taken some time in the morning or afternoon?
The Bad: I think the owl is a little soft in focus.
I'd like to see a tighter crop if the resolution or the original can handle it.
It would be nice to see another angle perhaps as Steve suggested, but some times nature just doesn't want to cooperate hey!
Thanks Gents. The thing I find when cropping this down to just the Owl, is that you lose the green under the rail, and then it just looks funny.
I think my issue with the picture is that I like the detail in the rail more than the bird (probably because the bird is soft), so I'm not sure what I want the focus to be.
Hi Geoff,
ReplyDeleteNicely blurred background. Not sure what you stopped down to here but if you've got the distance between subject and background, you can blur it away.
However the owl is a little small in the frame. If you're going to include lots of background, make sure it's in focus or it's colour compliments/contrasts the subject.
To make it appear larger I would have zoomed all the way in to 320mm EFL and shot vertical. The owl is more vertical than horizontal so it's a more natural fit to the framing device. A vertical crop should also keep enough of the surroundings to give it context but allow us to see more of the owl.
Also the shadow on the right is a little distracting. Perhaps trying another shot from a little more to the left, thus putting the fence railing on a more dynamic angle too.
Overall it looks a little soft. Not sure if you've stopped down too much or are shooting too wide open. Perhaps going for a faster shutter speed to stop any motion. However it looks like a rather static shot. Any wind?
Another idea might be to crop so that you can use the owl's shadow as a leading line originating from the bottom right corner.
Brutal Enough?
steve
Thanks for the comments. To update, the picture was taken at f5.6, and the EFL was 320, rather than 200 which was the zoom length. I'll correct that in the original. It wasn't very windy at the time, but he was a pretty flighty little guy, so didn't stay around for long.
ReplyDeleteGeoff.
Hi Gents,
ReplyDeleteThe Good:
The background is separated well from the owl and really brings my eye to the subject. The perch has some interesting detail also. It's nice that the lighting on the owl isn't completely flat. Was this taken some time in the morning or afternoon?
The Bad:
I think the owl is a little soft in focus.
I'd like to see a tighter crop if the resolution or the original can handle it.
It would be nice to see another angle perhaps as Steve suggested, but some times nature just doesn't want to cooperate hey!
Cheers gents!
Craig.
Thanks Gents. The thing I find when cropping this down to just the Owl, is that you lose the green under the rail, and then it just looks funny.
ReplyDeleteI think my issue with the picture is that I like the detail in the rail more than the bird (probably because the bird is soft), so I'm not sure what I want the focus to be.
Geoff.