I just received a new 70-300mm Zuiko lens for my Olympus E510 and took some bird pictures out my window yesterday. Please let me know how I can improve the picture. Should I crop a little bit more off of the right side? How is the lighting, ect.?

I think cropping off the right side would make the bird too crowded. In fact, if you have already cropped from the right, I would put some back. A little off the left wouldn't hurt though.

A boost in saturation and adding a little black to the blacks and neutrals would help with the slightly foggy look that comes from shooting out the window.

A touch more sharpening would top it off just right.

In addition to Jim's comments I would touch up the overall brightness of the cardinal. IMO it currently doesn't 'separate' enough from the background. As to the cropping, the picture is somewhat of a "tweener" - not cropped enough to frame the head to form a portrait, but cropped too much to provide for natural framing of the bird as a whole. I guess that's the one thing that really doesn't work for me with this image - I keep looking for a nice tail.

Aside from this, would you mind sharing how far away you were from the subject? Is this a full-frame image? I am just wondering about this in regards to the quality of the Zuiko lens.

Thanks for sharing!

Hi and thanks for your suggestions. I would say I was about 8 feet from the cardinal at 300mm. I am going to attach two other pictures to show you distance. I have done nothing to the pictures, except downsizing for the web. The female cardinal in the tree is about 13 feet away and the downy woodpecker is about 15 feet away.

Here is the downy woodpecker.

George,
Thanks so much for showing me the results of your suggestions. It really helps me to know what to do. I always worry a little bit about over sharpening. It sometimes has a harsh look that takes away from the bird's beauty. I may post some more pictures later. Happy Holidays!

Diane

I think this is a really nice shot. There is excelent detail in the feathers which I really like to see. I personally would crop off a little more on the right side. For me though while I like the photo and I think it is technically sound I prefer photos that show the whole bird when photographing small song birds. I am impressed though that you were able to get that close. I have many shots of cardinals and I have never ben able to get that close to one.