Foxy Lady

[Lindsay05]

]My first picture to post. I am a beginner and using basically a point and shoot. Please offer any advice and suggestions!

[Iguanasan]

First off, welcome to the forum, Lindsay! Now to help you out with some critique.

This is a beautiful image of a beautiful animal. I don't know how vicious these little fellows are but I hope you were playing it safe as she looks like shes about 2 feet in front of you. When photographing people or animals you want to try and nail the focus on the eyes but they seem a little soft in this image. There is some amazing sharpness and detail in the fur so I suspect the focus is just not quite in the right spot. Opening up to f/8 or f/11 and reducing the shutter speed to 1/200th of a second or such might have helped by giving you more depth of field.

There are a few overexposed areas but considering you are shooting in a sunlit snow field I can live with that though to be more technically correct you may want to darken those areas a bit.

I can't really say anything else about this photograph. I love it just the way it is except for the focus issue. That SX20 is serving you well.

[Andrew]

Welcome, hope to see lots more. There are lots of operational options you can modify in most modern Point and Shoot cameras as you say you have. Take the time to go through the manual lightly just so you know what's there and available for adjustment. That way when you have a challenge or someone on this site mentions a suggestion on what to try you'll hopefully remember you can make some related changes. One thing you won't get past with most P&S is the quality of the lenses and the softness of photos taken and the extremes of either the mechanical or digital zoom. Other than that you'll be able to make some wonderful photos. Great shot of the fox but knowing these critters from around Calgary I imagine it was quite far off. If you're going to post photos for critique on your style or technical knowledge I'd suggest you post shots that are much closer and therefore in more detail. When you post also identify your camera, the range and any other settings you have so that the feedback can be more tailored specifically to the photo. Have fun here.

[Marko]

Welcome!

This is a beautiful image with fab composition and exposure!
Iggy gives good critique here. i just want to add that the sharpest focus of all living things (that have eyes) should normally be the eyes. You got very close here.

I recommend that if you are SERIOUS about improving your photography, buy a cheap DSLR and watch your photography improve when you practice with it.

[Lindsay05]

Thanks everyone! In fact I was quite close in this picture. So close that no zoom was needed! I received the SX20 as a 'practice' camera before I try the DSLR. I have A LOT to learn about the camera I have so I will be out practicing when I can! Thanks for the positive and very constructive feedback.