blue-birdie

This is interesting! We clicked alike! http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=16336894

wonderful image  enchanting bird compliments gerolamo

Welcome to PN..........

A few tips for you to consider............ know what you are shooting - this is a type of American Night Heron, and if you are going to shoot birds then I suggest you get a local bird book for identification.

PN allows you to upload your camera/lens details and to attach the exif data to posted images..... you can also post images with 1500 as the longest side...... this allows us to comment more freely knowing what you used and how you shot the image etc.

Without the info described in the above paragraph, I can only comment on what is presented............... IMO the image could be sharper and an eye highlight could have presented more appeal.

I find the black background confusing and am tempted to suggest that some fill-in flash might have help along the way.

Anyway, just my thoughts here............

Regards

Grayham, thank you so much for your helpful comments. Strange as it may seem, I have been a photographer for 43 years and to the best of my knowledge, never photographed a bird in my entire life! As a rule, I shoot 4x5!!! (Yes, film.) I also did shoot 35mm Nikons for many years and I still have and use them. The camera used here is a brand-new Pentax K-30 I received as a Christmas gift. I have figured out what the camera body can do (easy part) and do NOT know what my two new lenses can do and not do (difficult part) and that will take some time.

This was one of those cases where you get the shot when you can, and that was all I did. The lens I used was and old Pentax SMC zoom lens and it is not especially fast. The bird unexpectedly hopped on shore just under my feet, and I realized two things: I should have had the other lens on the Pentax and that I did not have the luxury of time to change, so I focused on composition and simply did the best I could. The bird was so close that I had to switch quickly to manual focus and hope for the best. My guess is that I was on the fringe of focus and shot at around 1/30th of a second because this was shot is very dark shade.

Yes, it could be sharper. There was no time to activate the flash or I simply am so used to not using flash that the thought didn't enter my mind. I do like the dark background as I think it draws more attention to the bird.

Will I ever photograph another bird? Maybe, but my real specialty is historical photography, mostly historical Architecture. Again, thanks for your thoughts. Now, I need to get out there and learn what my lenses can do!

Talbert

PS. I normally shoot primes, not zooms. I like the versatile nature of zoom lenses, but not so sure about the quality.

Thank you for the above explanation..... I feel a little guilty of being somewhat harsh in my previous comment and therefore might suggest you contribute a little preamble to the image, next time around (smiles).

Thank you for accepting my comments in the light-hearted way they were intended and for your Pmail, to which I replied to before seeing your comment here.........

Best regards