This morning I took a hike at McDonald Dunn Forest and it rained most of the time. But I was pretty excited to get one of my first rain shots ever! Even though the background has grain that’s just what happens when I have to use a high ISO on my camera. It doesn’t do well in the dark woods.
Specific Feedback Requested
Even though it’s grainy does the bird look good? Do you see the little raindrop on his back?! Does the rain coming down look good? Anything else…
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Nikon D3400
ISO 6400
300mm
f/6.3
1/500
Sharpened slightly but didn’t seem to make a difference. No crop
It looks like the focus is right on the head, Vanessa and I like the over-the-shoulder pose. I am seeing one drop on the back of the bird. I really like the forest look to this image-it conveys northwest forest habitat well. The image is definitely noisy, but it’s nicely fine-grained noise and doesn’t bother me-it gives it a bit of a retro look.
@Mike_Friel
thanks Mike! I’m glad you like it! I think it’s a Song Sparrow. Looking in my Oregon wildlife app it’s the one that makes the most sense for this area. It looks like it too.
Hi Vanessa, very nice forest scene. Love the backwards pose of the bird and the overall setting. The noise here seems to add a dimension to the image as Dennis states. You could try a version taking out the background noise to see what you think. I usually select the subject and run noise reduction on the background only. I use imagenomic noiseware as a photoshop plugin.
Nice image.
Thanks Allen! I’m glad you like the bird and don’t mind the noise! I can’t really get rid of it with the app I have. I’m working with an iPad so have an app, Pixelmator photo, which was specifically designed for the iPad. They might have an upgraded version, I’ll have to check. But it seems like everyone likes the noise, so I’ll embrace it for this photo anyway!
You really have the wet coast feel in this photo Vanessa. A really nice setting. The little sparrow might have given you a shot with a step tp your right to move the bg mossy branch a bit away from behind bird. I am not familiar with your lens but it may have VR to assist with handholding. Regardless you had some room to drop both ss and then ISO at least one stop.
I like the bg rain. Well done.
@David_Leroy Thanks, David, I’m glad you like it. These sparrows were flitting and flying all over the place! I was just glad he landed on a branch for a small bit. The woods in this area are so dense if I had moved over there would have been a branch in my way! 1/500 is usually about the slowest shutter I ever go with constantly moving animals!
I am struggling with why basic photography criticism is not used on this site.
Landscape photography is subjected to basic critiques, decent light and reasonable Image quality.
Bird photography deserves the same respect.
This is noisy, small in the frame snapshot.
It is an iphone photo at best.
Birds are everywhere, not that hard to get close images in good light.
You seem very motivated to do good photography, get closer, get light behind you , get subjects isolated.
@Dan_Kearl Imagine if you were new to a hobby like photography, trying to learn and had this posted to one of your images…
Instead how about;
I think it would be better larger in the frame and fieldcraft is important to learn how to do that.
Noise is a bit of an issue here, and there are software solutions to help with that. I know you don’t currently have the computing equipment to use those, but be aware that they are there for future images.
Getting the light behind you can be helpful in some situations. Just be aware of where the light is.
Calling someones work a snapshot is not helpful nor tolerable in the spirit of NPN’s conduct. Please refrain from doing so. “It is an iPhone photo at best”… Please… try to be polite.
Everyone is at a different place in their journey with photography and everyone has a different budget for equipment and compute processing power.
