Monster birds seeking next victim

I bought myself my first digital SLR for Christmas this year. After years of shooting with film cameras I finally felt the state of digital photography had improved to rival film. I was anxious to capture my first images with my Nikon D40X so a friend & I headed for the Portland, OR zoo. It was freezing, literally, outside so we headed for the bird sanctuary and the warmth within. I like the way this zoo allows it's collection of birds to fly freely in the habitat created for them. You, as a visitor to their home, are truly among the birds. I captured a few photos of extremely colorful small parrots sitting a mere two feet from where I stood. I could have reached out and touched them if it were not for the glare of one of their kind.

Bob,

These colors are amazing. Almost like you totally went wild with a child's paint box as who would have thought this color set would ever be natural?

I'm troubled by the b,g. and would either repeat the shot with a wider aperture and better position or remove that wire fence without a second thought! I couldn't determine from your file what was the aperture and lens? Keeping the EXIF info is helpful. Also, to protect that one winning image (that someone swipes for a great advertising campaign) always add your contact and © info.

Asher


This also makes for an interesting B&W shot but then who would have any idea of what this bird really looks like!

Asher

I'm strictly an amateur photographer these days and am now concerned about the photograph being snatched. This was literally the first shoot with my new digital slr and I'm not accustomed to keeping track of the details of each photograph. I do agree with your analogy of my depth of field being too great making the background annoying. I''m working on ressurecting my 35 mm days and the knowledge I once had on such details as the relationship between shutter speed and f-stop. Thanks for your comments.

Hi Robert,

Then you did very well; congrats for getting on track again! Just open the aperture to f4 or f2.8 or f1.4, the widest possible. That will limit the focus to the bird and the wires will pretty well vanish!!

How far is the zoo from you as it's likely a worthwhile place to re-visit again and again. In photoshop, under File you will find "File Info..." This will allow you to add your name and © to (alt and G or option-G) to protect your pictures. Also you should be able to see the details of the shot. What software do you use? We can help you with info to make things easy. Ask as you proceed.

Keep shooting!

Asher

I use Photoshop 7.0 and Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0. I now shoot in RAW.

Rainbow Lorikeets...

Hi Bob and welcome....

The first pic is a Rainbow Lorikeet and the second I'm not sure, although he certainly doesn't look in a good state of health at all.... These Rainbow Lorikeets are wild here and visit my home everyday where we feed them... they are really great to have around albeit a bit messy...

I do concur with Asher's DoF (depth of field) comments... a wider aperture in this instance may have blurred the background a little and also would have enabled a slightly faster shutter speed. There does seem to be some movement here. But without being able to view the exif and not knowing which lens you used, it is difficult to determine whether you were in fact able to widen the aperture. Very often in dimly lit areas, we need to increase the sensor sensitivity by increasing the ISO to achieve sharper photos...

Congrats on the D40X as well, the writeup is quite impressive....

Will look forward to seeing more of your photos....

Regards,
Barry (Melbourne, Australia).