Took these picture last year at the May Island just of the coast of Fife, Scotland. Thought they would be a good set to introduce myself. Would love any constructive feedback how to improve these pictures.
Some great shots. Thanks for sharing. INHO On photo 2 your depth of field is a little shallow and you get a little blurring on some of the birds. On shot 3 I would like to see a little more of the rock in the front of the birds cropped out and maybe some additional sky to keep the sizing right. Those are C&C just because you asked but I think they are great shots as is.
Always a pleasure to have such subject matter ... I've never seen one.
re comments
1. I think the bird is too central in frame and that the dark mass (cliff?) is too distracting. I'd suggest cropping the LHS to just behind the bird's tail (in line with the RHS of the foreground 'rock') and cropping the bottom third (say) of grass off.
2. Think it's very unlikely you'd have been able to get all the birds sharp - whatever setting you had available, because the distances between them look too big. Main issue is that it's the closer birds that're oof, unfortunately. Only suggestion would be to get rid of the headless bird (crop + clone?) and see what the pic looks like?
3. Quite like this'un ... but I'd try cropping the blurred fg rock out completely + doing something about the LHS of the pic .. either cloning out the rock, or - easier (and better, imo) - cropping just behind the head of the bird there. I'd not worry about the 'shape' of the pic, as long as there's a need / use for such things as facebook / website 'banner' pics ...
4. On my (uncalibrated), 8yr old LTop screen, looks like areas are close to being blown ... have you tried recovering any detail there?
All imo, of course ... like 3 the best, btw
pp
Btw - all 'cropping' suggestions have only been arrived at by reducing the browser window size and moving the pic around to get some idea ...
#1 I quite like the bokeh in the background, so would like to retain some of it
No problem - although I'm tempted to ask what it is you like about it and whether it's associated with remembering your emotional experience of being there and taking the shot ... or the way that it (presumably) enhances the visual appearance of the image - thro your eyes?
All I'll say is that I've taken many, many pics that I've hoped would capture the essence of what's happening in front of me at the time the shutter is pressed ... but the resulting image(s) rarely portray what I'm after ...
Comments
re comments
1. I think the bird is too central in frame and that the dark mass (cliff?) is too distracting. I'd suggest cropping the LHS to just behind the bird's tail (in line with the RHS of the foreground 'rock') and cropping the bottom third (say) of grass off.
2. Think it's very unlikely you'd have been able to get all the birds sharp - whatever setting you had available, because the distances between them look too big. Main issue is that it's the closer birds that're oof, unfortunately. Only suggestion would be to get rid of the headless bird (crop + clone?) and see what the pic looks like?
3. Quite like this'un ... but I'd try cropping the blurred fg rock out completely + doing something about the LHS of the pic .. either cloning out the rock, or - easier (and better, imo) - cropping just behind the head of the bird there. I'd not worry about the 'shape' of the pic, as long as there's a need / use for such things as facebook / website 'banner' pics ...
4. On my (uncalibrated), 8yr old LTop screen, looks like areas are close to being blown ... have you tried recovering any detail there?
All imo, of course ... like 3 the best, btw
pp
Btw - all 'cropping' suggestions have only been arrived at by reducing the browser window size and moving the pic around to get some idea ...
Flickr
#1 I quite like the bokeh in the background, so would like to retain some of it
#2 Never noticed the headless bird ..lol, but I like the out of focus foreground. I agree the headless bird needs to go.
#3 Is the foreground too distracting?
#4 I'll see what I can do, my photoshop skills are basic at best
thanks again for the critique
I think it'd be worth having a play ... even if you only cropped off the light coloured strip(e) along the bottom of the frame.
No problem - although I'm tempted to ask what it is you like about it and whether it's associated with remembering your emotional experience of being there and taking the shot ... or the way that it (presumably) enhances the visual appearance of the image - thro your eyes?
All I'll say is that I've taken many, many pics that I've hoped would capture the essence of what's happening in front of me at the time the shutter is pressed ... but the resulting image(s) rarely portray what I'm after ...
pp
Flickr