Last week I invited you to, “Look at the following images I recently took, and ask yourself, ‘What’s wrong with this pic?’ ” Each are flawed, but how? Do my answers line up with what you saw?
Look at the picture below. The bird is almost in focus and it occupies a small portion of the screen. The limb it is sitting on, along with that big knot on the right, detract your attention from the bird. I would not post it on my own website.
Now take a look at the Blue-winged Teal (m) below. You can identify the species and it has some action in it (walking toward you). It’s not in the best of focus. Because the light is to the left of me, the right side of the head (which we see the most of) is in shadow – you can barely make out the eye. Not a GreatBirdPic.
How about our Great Blue Heron below. On one level it is kind of interesting to see the bird on the pile of downed limbs. However the bird is so small and uninteresting amid all the jumble of branches it doesn’t stand out – the bird is just too small for the picture amid the distractions.
Finally our tricky pic. A beautiful male Blue-winged Teal in good focus and you get a good look at its eye. Can you see what’s wrong? If not step back from the bird and look at the entire frame – you’ll notice a tan bar running up to down across the head. This was a stalk of grass that the camera didn’t focus on and basically saw right through – but it’s still there and reduces the quality of the picture.
Again, this leads up to our next series of articles on how to improve your bird photographs. I will be introducing GBP’s Bird Picture Quality Self-Assessment Rubric (QSAR) and discretely demonstrate how the choices made in the field and at the computer back home can yield better bird photographs. It is my hope that if our members use this tool their bird photographs, the images you’ll see on GreatBirdPics.com will be even better!
Stay Safe. Go Birding. Take Pics. Post Here. Repeat.
Mike
If you would like to learn more about GreatBirdPIc.com CLICK HERE. Members can post their own GreatBirdPics, communicate with other members, and received regular emails about bird photography.