Hit me with your best shots ...

[Paul]

Been out and about today.

When i go out i try and set myself a mission/theme to shoot so i can try my hand at all types of photography.

Todays theme was animals, not really had that much experience with animals, so i was learning as i went along.

I was shooting from the hip with a Canon 30D and a Canon 55-200mm.

Rather than cluttering up the wildlife thread, i'll post here as that thread is not for crit.

So come on, crit away, give me your best shots, i can take it :)

http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs30/i/2008/159/1/f/Fly__by_Paulmalsop.jpg
This was an opportunistic shot, i actually had my camera switched off, slung over my shoulder. In the time it took for the bird to enter my FOV, i had swung the cam around into my hand, flipped the lens cam, switched to shutter priority (which i have set fast by default) focused with AI servo and shot.

http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs25/i/2008/159/6/b/Hidden_by_Paulmalsop.jpg
This is an example of getting down and dirty for an eye shot, i was prone on the morning dew grass to take this in the 'spread eagle' position for extra stability.

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs25/i/2008/159/8/7/le_canard_by_Paulmalsop.jpg
I was kinda half expecting this to happen as two male ducks were squabbling

http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs25/i/2008/159/a/2/Quack__by_Paulmalsop.jpg
Again, down and dirty, but i bided my time and waited for a 'quack' .... (how sad am i?)

http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs26/i/2008/159/9/f/ugly_by_Paulmalsop.jpg
A family of ducks came out of the reeds and started to swim away, i sat low as possible without falling in the water, and still. I had nothing to intice them back, so i threw a few pebbles, which a few of the ducks took as food, and the ducklings approached and i snapped.

http://fc05.deviantart.com/fs30/i/2008/159/2/2/Flight_by_Paulmalsop.jpg
Just mucking about here, not that keen on this shot, i think individually the burst that i shot of this black headed gull were fine, i don't know why i put a few of them together.

http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs29/i/2008/159/0/7/Muscovy_Duck_by_Paulmalsop.jpg
A nice variation on the mallard, muscovy duck (Thanks for ID Phil!) or red eyed quacker as i like to call them .... :confused:

I wouldn't feel complete without a few landscapes, so here is a beach in Northumberland. The concrete blocks are remnants from WWII, they were defences again Nazi tanks that could have potentially invaded our beaches. Now people use them to sit/bathe on.

http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs28/i/2008/159/2/5/Duridge_bay_by_Paulmalsop.jpg

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs30/i/2008/159/2/2/__fight_them_on_the_beaches___by_Paulmalsop.jpg

This is the last pic being taken ..... :whistling:

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/CIMG0200.jpg

[NeilH]

Amazing photos - realise this is not a criticism! Here goes (from someone who doesn't know much about photography!)
picture 2 - the second duck's head behind is a bit distracting.
picture 5 - the duckling's eye looks not quite in focus (beak and back are)
picture 6 - looks like something you'd see on an 'arty' greetings card or an 'inspirational' management poster - with a dodgy uplifting statement - that said I think it grows on you.
my favourite is picture 3.
excellent shots and hope you don't mind a bit of amateur critique :whistling:
Neil
:applause:

[dan-the-man]

Cant really say much tbh, just great shots, but picture 3 is superb, really really good. :thumbsup:

[Ben S]

Some good shots there.

Like the shots of Druridge Bay. Taking a few up there myself. I'm from Ashington, so it's nice and easy to get too.

Ben

[Aleela]

I was going to use the QUACK reply link............

Some nice pics there Claude, I agree with your comments about adding the extra gulls, I like the head shot of the Red Quacker.

It's good to see that you actually take the camera out with you, I used to carry mine with me all the time, on the old mountain Bike, not allowed to use them any more, but when I go to our locall beach I do try to take it, so keep snapping, and I can imagine i'm there with you taking them. Alex

[Paul]

Amazing photos - realise this is not a criticism! Here goes (from someone who doesn't know much about photography!)
picture 2 - the second duck's head behind is a bit distracting.
picture 5 - the duckling's eye looks not quite in focus (beak and back are)
picture 6 - looks like something you'd see on an 'arty' greetings card or an 'inspirational' management poster - with a dodgy uplifting statement - that said I think it grows on you.
my favourite is picture 3.
excellent shots and hope you don't mind a bit of amateur critique :whistling:
Neil
:applause:

Neil, this is exactly what crits are about. It's not a negative thing, and it is totally personal to the person who is looking at the photo and thanks for taking time to process the pics and write back.

I agree about pic #2 (i also thought that about the Muscovy pic too), you actually have made me think twice about 'ugly' i didn't realise it was a tad out oof. I have an excuse though .... i was trying not to fall in the water! :)

Scriptdaddy, if you are from Ashington, i presume you have heard about the SHELL wildlife photographer of the year exhibition in the ..... (something) museum (it's an old colliery - can't remember name). I went yesterday, there are some awesome pieces on display :)

[beech]

Absolutely amazing pics! i am not worthy to criticise but will anyway :D
Pic 1. Is there a bit of light interference around the duck? would it be better if the duck was more central?
Pic 2. background duck is distracting but colours are fantastic!
Pic 3,4 and 5 perfect
pic 6. presume two birds are superimposed dont look great a bit false
last pic there is a weird looking fella holding a camera!!:p
As i say the shots are fantastic will start bringing my camera out with me

[Paul]

Hi mate, thanks for crit, i found that once i started being critical about other peoples pics, i learned a LOAD, so keep it up :)

I'm not sure what you mean by light interference around pic #1? This was the way i got the pic, i had no extra photo to allow me to crop the pic central (however, i'm not a fan of subjects being central in pics anyway).

I totally agree with you on the last pic, his name was Claude and he appeared to be French ... ;)

A few tips for shooting wild life from my experience (if i may). They do things real fast, without warning and not on cue, so you need to be ready with a fast shutter shutter speed. Therefore the best idea is to shoot in shutter priority (TV mode) and set your shutter speed relitively high. The Exif data from most of my shots from shooting in TV mode above reads ....

-------------------
Make: Canon
Model: Canon EOS 30D
Shutter Speed: 1/500 second <--------------- this always stats the same
F Number: F/9.0 <--------- this varies between shots depending what the camera decides is the correct aperture for my light meter
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
------------------

When you use AV mode the reverse is true. The aperture stays the same and the shutter speed alters to accomodate

[beech]

I had to take a copy of your pic sorry if i have done something wrong. Cropped it to show the light i am on about
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll147/beech08/Fly__by_Paulmalsop2.jpg

i travel everyday along the most beautiful road in fermanagh and never bring my camera. Will tomorrow and weather permitting take a few shots and post here

[zimreef]

That's the upturned end of the wing Peter.

John

[Paul]

Yah, what John said, and worries about copying my pic (just don't sell it!) ;)

[Paul]

Back into my comfort zone ....

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs29/i/2008/160/2/4/Gibside_hall_by_Paulmalsop.jpg

http://fc05.deviantart.com/fs26/i/2008/160/a/c/Symmetry_by_Paulmalsop.jpg

http://fc05.deviantart.com/fs29/i/2008/160/3/e/__Everything_is_blurry___by_Paulmalsop.jpg

For a better description of the titles, see my DA account in my link :)

[Snowsurfer]

I enjoyed the nature shots, 1st could have had a little better focus. The rest i thought were nice though. But these last few pics you posted for me personally are going away from photography skills and more about photoshopping. Id much rather see some nice natural looking landscapes.

[Paul]

I enjoyed the nature shots, 1st could have had a little better focus. The rest i thought were nice though. But these last few pics you posted for me personally are going away from photography skills and more about photoshopping. Id much rather see some nice natural looking landscapes.

There is actually not that much photoshopping here other than desats, it's HDRi + ND8 + polariser

[Snowsurfer]

I must admit i dont know much about photoshop but to me they just look more like a cartoon or painting. Id be interested to see the originals straight from the camera.

[Flibidib02]

Claude how did you do "Everythings Blurry"?
Like step-by-step and which HDRi software did you use or was it CS2?

Thanks

[Paul]

Claude how did you do "Everythings Blurry"?
Like step-by-step and which HDRi software did you use or was it CS2?

Thanks

Hi, i don't have time at the mo for a step by step, if i get some in a bit i will oblige. Basically it was use of a slowish shutter speed, thanks to a ND8 filter + circ pol. Also a big thanks to the orchester playing which was making people in the foreground 'bob thier heads' a bit to the music and therefore give me a bit of blur.

HDRi software = photomatrix

hope that answers some Q's for now :)

[Paul]

I must admit i dont know much about photoshop but to me they just look more like a cartoon or painting. Id be interested to see the originals straight from the camera.

I hear what yr saying about the use of photoshop. People use the phrase "it's been photoshopped" in a negative way, as if it's somehow cheating. Sometimes it is unacceptable to post process to a massive extent in PS (i.e. adding things to your pic out of context), but if used correctly and skillfully it is perfectly acceptable and is very much like modifications people make to pics in the dark room (without the hazardous chemicals and the hours of being by yourself in a small room!), and no one complains about that.

I see PS as a digital darkroom, which i think is totally acceptable. There is no excuse for not attempting to get it right first time while standing behind the lens, but post processing allows people to take a 'good' shot and make it into a 'great' shot.

That's my ethos anyway, and probably not everyones :)

[Flibidib02]

I know you said you don't have time but for a future answer I must ask...
How do you obtain the best results from Photomatix, i.e not noisey?

A simple Screen Print of the settings next to a good example would be nice :)

[Paul]

the key to using PM is keep the light smothing as high as poss, the micro smoothing med to high and try not to use a saturation over 50%

Too many HDRi images I see are oversaturated and the light smoothing is set to 0 or 1 (or in some extreme cases a minus value), which causes halo'ing and also causes the land to be lighter than the sky (which is unrealistic).

Remember to get the best out of PM you should be shooting in RAW and bracketing your shots. Noise is generated when there isn't enough info there in the first place and the programme has to 'fill in the gaps' which is the case when you are a) editing from a JPG or b) creating a pseudo HDRi from one RAW (if the shadows are too dark in your RAW, creating a HDRi from an image that you have cranked up the exposure 1/2 stops will give you noise).

[Paul]

The g/f doesn't like the new font ...... anyone else agree?