I had to take it quick as the birds kept jumping from branch to branch quickly.

I am wanting to get into Nature Photography as I am getting older and the wife and I are doing more traveling and slowing down on working..

Here is one of my first shots.

http://members.cox.net/bphowe/photo/Mockingbird7.jpg

Also thank you all for the comments good or bad as this is the only way to learn.

Hi Bernard,

Welcome! When I click on the link you sent, it brings me to an invalid link.

James

OOPs. Sorry about that.

First let me say that photographing small birds is one of life's great challenges and improves with hours and hours of lurking in the wild and studying the habits and characteristics of each species. It is can be extremely frustrating, but also, greatly rewarding!

Composition/use of frame space - You would normally (and rules exist as guides, only) would want to have space in front of a subject and a bit of space above, to give (in this case) the bird room to move.
This crop seems to crowd the bird and confine him.

Colors/White Balance - I think the color is very good.

Exposure - Overall, the picture is generally well exposed, but the subject is not. The bird's face and eyes (the most important parts of a good bird photo,) are lost entirely in shadow. This is a problem with animals sitting in trees. You have to be careful to set your exposure to allow the important details to come out. Frequently in very complex shadows, you will need to use manual exposure and check your shot in your LCD as you work.

Creative use of Aperture/Shutter - no opinion

Perspective - Quite often we have to let the bird determine the perspective, but this shot seems a bit "overhead". I would try for a shallower angle of view. It could be accomplished by simply backing away. We all realize that the space we take the picture from is not always easily altered.

Creativity - It is pretty much a picture of a bird. If you could have caught it singing or fluttering its wings, it would be far less static. Of course you would still want to avoid the unfortunate shadow.

Emotion - The emotion is lost in the shadows

Forethought/Visualization The focus seems to be on the branch in the foreground and the bird is a bit "soft". This allows that pesky branch to dominate the scene. Sometimes this can be "fixed" (within limits) in post processing.

Keep shooting and pulling your hair out (I certainly realize that there may not be sufficient hair to pull)!

Thank you, I had some of the same thoughts. Focusing was rough as the birds move so often and fast. Using a E510 is a lot different than my old p&s Kodak. It seems to take longer for the picture to take after I press the shutter release.

Yep you caught me, not much hair left to pull for sure

Hi Bernard,

Thanks for fixing the link. I want to second Durwood's statement about photographing small birds. I am NOT very good at it, and I often marvel at some of the folks out here who do this.

To me, I always think when photographing anything - human or critter, that the eyes are the windows of the soul. To me, in order for a photograph to have to have real gravitas - particularly when doing something of a creature that is not on the move, having that contact between the viewer and the critter is very important. In this case, the one side of the bird's profile that you can see is extensively shadowed. As to the other issue of composition, I find that the various branches in the photograph are very distracting from the subject.

This is a hard photograph to take, and in several places it is very nicely done. For example, the white balance and colors look very natural. The body of the bird is 'right on.' Great detail in the feathers and the branch directly adjacent to the bird. However, the head is in complete shadow and the noise generated as a result is not the 'pleasant' kind that one looks for in an image. Unfortunately, exposing for the head may have caused some blow-out on the branch - though I think the body of the bird could handle another stop or so of light before losing detail.

I believe that some of this image could be improved by some creative use of post processing. While you will not lose the noise in the head of the bird, you may be able to bring out the body a bit more through the use of layers and curves.

Thanks for sharing, Bernard! I hope to see more of your work as you get comfortable here.

Cheers,
James

WOW, I have even more to learn yet.. I really do appreciate all the comments in truth I do not think of the comments as criticism I think of it as a teaching tool.

In truth I new it was not up to everyone standards but how else can I learn if I don't share. Like we tell the apprentice people, it is only a dumb question if you don't ask. Thank you all for the comments it gives me a direction in which to think about and try to conquer