Bird show

[smusesuse]

Hey everyone, I'm new here. One of the reasons I registered on this site was the hope that I could learn from all the experienced photographers here, for example through feedback. So I'd like to share a few pictures with you that I took recently at a bird show. All comments are welcome and most appreciated.

Cheers,
Suse

[Bjørn Rørslett]

#1 shows you should always be careful about the background lest disturbing patterns emerge. #2 is good documentation of bird in flight (I'm not a birder so take that with a pinch of salt). #3 is a pleasant close-up and the nice background mitigates the otherwise quite hard light in the foreground.

[Mike G]

love the Vulture,it's in the eyes!

[smusesuse]

Thank you, Bjorn and Mike! The strange thing is that I somehow even like the patterns of the cage that show up in the first picture. Even though they are distracting. But in the end my eyes always end up wandering to the bird's extraordinary eyelashes... It's similar with the last pic - I'm not sure how I feel about it, in the end I just feel stared at.

Thank you for your comments, gentlemen!

[Frank Fremerey]

Because the bird in #1 is quite monochrome I actually like the color patchwork in the BG. Only thing that I see there is the shadow over the bird's eye.

[Airy]

In #1 the main subject is the background indeed. You could have asked the bird to step aside

[smusesuse]

Frank, yes, the shadow bothers me too. But I really wanted a picture of that bird and it simply wouldn't move to a more well-lit spot (or any other spot for that matter). So I took what I could get.

Airy, maybe I should have! If I had mastered the stare of the vulture, I'm sure this one would have obeyed.

[Frank Fremerey]

Impressive bird anyway. Visit it again anytime soon. I sometimes need several approaches to be happy with my take on a topic.

[Airy]

About #3 : a well-balanced shot, given the interesting background on the right. Shooting into the bird's face, rather than laterally, is no "by the book" since birds tend to look silly in such an attitude (owls excepted), but I take this is a humorous shot rather than an ornithology illustration.
My only real criticism is lack of sharpness (the eyes...). Stopping down quite a lot (the bill may fool the AF) would be my general recommendation for face shots. The reverse is true for humans (getting both eyes sharp on a semi-lateral shot is often critical)

[smusesuse]

Thank you for your feedback, Frank and Airy!

Impressive bird anyway. Visit it again anytime soon. I sometimes need several approaches to be happy with my take on a topic.

Yes, I will definitely do that. It's not far away from where I live, and there were just soooo many interesting subjects!

About #3 : a well-balanced shot, given the interesting background on the right. Shooting into the bird's face, rather than laterally, is no "by the book" since birds tend to look silly in such an attitude (owls excepted), but I take this is a humorous shot rather than an ornithology illustration.
My only real criticism is lack of sharpness (the eyes...). Stopping down quite a lot (the bill may fool the AF) would be my general recommendation for face shots. The reverse is true for humans (getting both eyes sharp on a semi-lateral shot is often critical)

Thanks again, Airy. You're right, the shot is not especially serious. I just loved the look this bird gave me! Thanks for you tipp regarding stopping down. I will definitely keep that in mind!

[smusesuse]

Three more I took that day. Once again, comments are most welcome and appreciated.

[Mike G]

The owl certainly knows something as he/she is winking. 

[Peter Connan]

Smesesuse, conditions were definately not your friend here.

For the owl, perhaps a bit of fill flash to get the eyes would have helped. Some people have ethical concerns about using flash on wild birds, and I respect that, but this was a show bird wasn't it?

For the kite, firstly well done on getting it sharp, with a nice pose and they eye in the sun. Remember though when shooting dark birds against blue sky to add say 2/3 stop of EV compensation. Even more for white clouds.

With the parrot, it seems perhaps slightly over-exposed, perhaps try just lowering the exposure a bit in PP (I think camera exposure is correct though). Nica and sharp!

[smusesuse]

Peter, thank you so much for your critique. I think I wouldn't have felt comfortable using a flash with the owl (even though it was in this avifauna park) but I do see your point. And thanks for the tipp regarding the EV compensation, I took a lot of shots of birds in flight that day and most of the subjects turned out too dark.

[Peter Connan]

Only a pleasure. I wish someone would remind me of these things from time to time when shooting!