nathangardner

Nice observation Jim, I will take the advice on the cropping. Thank you.

Thanks Phil.  I was so excited to get this.  It's shot from a kayak.

Thanks. And I used a 70-200mm f/2.8. #23 is Kentucky's Anthony Davis and was named National Player of the Year, #1 overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft, and is now a Gold Medalist from the London Olympics.

Yes, Dennis and thanks for the input. I agree with the comment about the bright leaf. They are aggressive and I've even seen them harass squirrels and chase them across the yard. Unfortunately, this one harassed a pair of bluebirds out of their box, but they relocated to a different one in the yard.

Didn't really want to clog up the forums since that isn't the place to

post photos, but thought I'd post this for others to see some of the

photos from Henryville, Ind. We live 3 miles south of where the

tornado hit and were lucky enough not to get any damage. Any help

or donations are needed and appreciated. The reaching out of the

community and the nation has been simply amazing so far. If you

click on the photo, there is a whole folder of storm photos.

Didn't really want to clog up the forums since that isn't the place to

post photos, but thought I'd post this for others to see some of the

photos from Henryville, Ind. We live 3 miles south of where the

tornado hit and were lucky enough not to get any damage. Any help

or donations are needed and appreciated. The reaching out of the

community and the nation has been simply amazing so far. If you

click on the photo, there is a whole folder of storm photos.

Didn't really want to clog up the forums since that isn't the place to

post photos, but thought I'd post this for others to see some of the

photos from Henryville, Ind. We live 3 miles south of where the

tornado hit and were lucky enough not to get any damage. Any help

or donations are needed and appreciated. The reaching out of the

community and the nation has been simply amazing so far. If you

click on the photo, there is a whole folder of storm photos.

Lighting was tough so I did some local exposure adjustments to make it

easier to look at. Thoughts? Would you re-work it in a different way?

Thanks Don,

 

I was lucky.  The only owls I had ever photographed before these two were a couple of young Great Horneds that had a nest in our neighbors yard, and those shots weren't very good.  I never imagined I'd get two separate owls in one day.  And, yes, that branch bugs the heck out of me, but at the time I was so worried about not spooking it that I didn't even pay attention to the branch.  Oh well, I guess it gives me something to improve upon next time, if there is a next time. 

Comments/critiques/criticisms. Always looking to improve,, what do

you like/dislike? Thanks, as always.

Very nice shot. Where is the location of these birds. Never seen or heard of them.

Is it me or is there a halo around the osprey and cactus? I'm sure it was hard to expose for both the bird and sky, but I think the exposure adjustment causing the halo is more of a distraction that a blown out sky.  It's the lesser of two evils, but I'd take the blown out sky.  Just my opinion.  Also, if you use Lightroom, you can adjust the luminance, hue, and saturation of the blues to deepen the sky without changing the exposure.  You can sometimes almost get a polarized look by doing this.

Am I missing something here?  Tm J's work never disappoints, but this appears to be a photo of a person in a sumo wrestling suit that was taken with the very first camera phone.

Mike,

Thank you for the image. It amazing how such a small detail can improve the photo drastically. I will mess with the local adjustment brush in LR to try to get the same effect. Is this how you did it?

 

Thanks to everyone else as well for the comments and advice.

This is one of my first tries with multiple flashes, remotes, and a

homemade background. How can I improve? I know a flower would be

nice. Anything else?

Tree and Barn Swallows are common around our pond and I thought this

was one of the two, but with it being so wet it looks a lot different. The

head still appears to be that of a swallow. Can anyone say for certain

what this is? Also, critiques are welcome.

Thanks Lupo,

 

And yes I am aware of the artist name in the exif data. The mk II requires a FireWire to connect to EOS Utility and my computer doesn't have a port for it. The mk iii is a friend's so I don't want to bother with it, although that isn't his name either. Thanks for the compliments. This is one of my favorite images from the series as well.

Thanks. I think it maybe rated low because the background is too vivid, it almost looks fake, but the background is the grass and this was early in the spring when it's still green. The sun was shining on it too to make it bright. I didn't enhance but I have thought myself that maybe I should have toned it down a bit. That and the fact that it's a pretty common nuthatch could be to blame. Anyways thanks for the compliments.

Thoughts? Things you like, things you dislike. Things I did right, things I did wrong.

How could it be improved? I'm always looking to learn and get better so any and

all advice/criticism/compliments/opinions are welcome. Thanks for looking.

A couple things:  First the good:  these are wood ducks, and from my experience, they're hard to approach and tend to be very skittish, so bravo on finding some that allow you to get close enough for a good photo.  They're beautiful birds. 

Now the criticism:  One important thng about wildlife photography is right there in the word, "wild."  I can see a manmade structure that the birds are standing on and it seems to be in a city park.  Right off the bat it loses points from me. 

Now some general advice: I like to see wildlife in their natural 'wild' habitat, not in a manmade one.  That being said, one of the important things about photographing wildlife is to understand and study your subject.  I would bet that most great wildlife shooters know just as much about wildlife as a biologist with a college degree.  I don't know that much, but since I've had an interest in bird photography I've bought several bird guides and learned quite a bit about the birds I've shot.  Also, you don't want to be a copycat cookie cutter photographer, but its not a bad idea to browse through the wildlife image galleries and see what techniques the great shooters use and what separates a great photo from a good one.  Just as a quick piece of advice, one of the most important things in a great wildlife image is focus; sharp focus is a must and the focus point should always be on the eyes ideally.  You already have some great subjects (I love wood ducks) and an early start.  Just learn as much as you can and you'll surprise yourself.  And at 16, I wouldn't worry about a career.  Most photo careers are in photojournalism or portraiture, its extremely hard to make it as a freelance wildlife shooter, but that doesn't mean to give up on it.  Just have fun and keep learning, if you're not having fun then you're doing it wrong.

Nice action shot with ideally fast shutter speed.  I have shot lots of BMX (same thing but with bicycles) and usually I would try to incorporate the ramp or landing in the photo.  This gives you an idea of how high the rider is and how they got to where they are.  This rider could be anywhere from 12 to 50 feet in the air, but we don't know.  With only the rider in the frame there's lots of empty space. I would crop it to a square frame since there is no terrain in the photo.  Other than that, good technique and timing, just try to get the ramp in the photo next time.  And if you like the empty frame to make it look as if the rider is floating in the sky, that's fine, but you can always crop it that way later.

 

Yeah, hopefully not me.  There was one behind me too.  These weren't too awfully big, maybe 5 or 6 feet.  The car wasn't too far away and my plan was to jump on the hood if one made any sudden moves, but I think they were more interested in just catching some sun than me.  Thanks for the comment.

Great image. I saw and shot these birds for the first time while on vacation in SC last week. They're very fun birds to shoot. Great perched shot with great detail and sharpness.

Okay, the truth is that these clouds face east and were just waiting to be painted by the sun but with the heavy cloud cover behind me, it never happened. I played with a colored grad filter in post just to see what it may have looked like and this is what I got. I hate the fact that this isn't really what I saw and debated whether to submit or not, but I also figured that this is no different than an image someone would take with a film camera and a colored grad filter 15 years ago. It's not my favorite because I don't like manipulating images beyond reality, but I wanted to see others' reactions. BTW, do you live here in HH?

Thanks a lot.  The sun popped out for about 10 seconds to illuminate the foreground while the clouds added drama to the background.  I was lucky to be out of the truck with camera in hand and ready during that 10 seconds.