RedHead

Taken with Nikon EM and a Quantaray 70-300 zoom lens with 2x teleconverter. The National Aviary in Pittsburgh, Pa, turned out to be a good learning experience. Hats off to anyone who gets GOOD bird shots - the things dont move they JERK - nearly impossible to get good focus on birds unless they are comatose :)

A challenge with auto-focus, this was taken with a Nikon EM (all

manual) with a 70-300 zoom AND a 2x teleconverter. Check out the

sharpness!

What 129 people have look at this and not one comment. I personally don't know why some come here.

 

Anyway you shot is not bad but there are a few things you could do to improve it. And I'm saying this from looking at a low res scan so the original may be totally different. To me this is a fraction overexposed on my monitor.

The white areas and the red feathers just don't quite have perfect detail and exposure amd the black area looks to black so it's underexposed.

 

So what I would have done is to meter off the red and set my exposure around 1/3-1/2 stop under that to retain detail and then used a fill flash rated at 1 2/3 under and fired away. The flash would have helped get detail back in the red and also in the black area of the beak. Not much, just enough to get it from looking dead black. I love these birds and I think you have done a nice side portrait of the animal.

I love the rating system here I think it sucks

Wes, you summed it up. To paraphrase, you put a little personal effort into your work. Don't expect much praise for proving that the equipment used is of secondary importance to the photographer's skill and perseverence. That's not a very popular concept.

Both good comments, and thank you. This was early work for me, I have since graduated to Fuji NPH film, which all on it's own solves much of the contrast problems Keith is talking about. And Scott REALLY hits the nail on the head - I am NOT using the most expensive lenses, although I DO have access to them anytime I want. The nut behind the shutter is still the most critical photographic element...