talbert_mcmullin1

Perfect subject. Perfect exposure. One of the best nude captures I have ever seen.  It rarely, if ever, gets better than this!  Great work!

It's the superb saturation and contrast that really make this excellent composition stand out.  Good work, Bob!

I am not a fan of digital photography when it comes to macro...but here, I will make an exception.  This is one fabulous shot, period. For once, film would probably not have done a better job.  Keep up the good work!

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.

The colors of purple, orange and green really make this stand out. Bravo!  Great capture! Bokeh is fabulous!

First photo from new Pentax k-30.

Now, THAT is an original photograph.  This is one to frame and hang on the wall.  Good eye, Roberto! 

This is soooooo classic! Fabulous capture! Color would have ruined this.

Is your sun rising or setting? Not sure....and it stirs the imagination. This is one of those that can be interpreted many ways. Very, very few photos or paintings can do that. That's what makes it such a great capture. Nice work, Ali! Very nice work, indeed!

There is beauty in simplicity. Flawless capture. We need more like this.