Friendly Heron

[Pas]

This guy was a poser. I was trying to get some sharpness into my wildlife photography after reading some on line tips about about focal length and shutter speed to improve sharpness.

[theantiquetiger]

OK Pas, I will critique again, but remember, I not too good at this...

Excellent sharpness on the eye and detail on the feathers, but you cut the bird in half and cut his feet off. I love the water in the background.

Do you have the bird in its entirety?

[Pas]

Oh yes Tiger, He stood there for about half an hour, I think in this image, I was trying to emphasize his right side and actions. I think because I get so many Herons ( They seem to like me ) that I was going for something a bit different.

[Pas]

And by the way Tiger, your doing just fine with the critique's :-)

[Mad Aussie]

The sharpness and detail are very good. Even in the very harsh light you've managed to retain the feather detail in the bright parts, that's good work. I also like the pose of the bird, as it's not an often seen pose in photos of these birds.

I don't like the crop at all though. We bits of leg, and almost all of the neck but not quite, it looks a bit 'almost' to me. It's not right close up and it's not back either.
If this is the full image (no cropping) then I'd definitely be cropping in, on the same aspect, to lose the legs altogether. If it's copped, perhaps cropping was unnecessary?

[Pas]

Hi Mad, its not a crop, Just a close up. How far would you crop in? Please feel free to edit and post. The more info and advice I get the better! I think a lot of the issues I am having is unknown bad habits. self taught doesn't make good photography. I have been reading lots of magazines and trying everything :-(

[Mad Aussie]

This is how I would crop it. This way it looks like a deliberate crop and excludes the legs which looked like they were cut off badly.

[Pas]

Now that is much better. I understand what you meant. I've looked at the original and it looks untidy, I think that describes it. I see a photo through my camera but translating it to a finished article I haven't got yet. Thanks Mad

[Mad Aussie]

Some people have a good eye for composition right off and others need to learn it. Looking at your photos so far, I'd say study the composition thing for now and you'll see immediate improvement.
Start with good ole Rule of Thirds ( don't be put off by elitest comments of how that's for beginners etc ) and think hard about what you want IN the photo, but also, just as importantly, what you DON'T want in it as well. What you exclude (like those legs) can be as important as what you include. This includes background distractions as well. In the shot above the background was excellent.
Look for things like leading lines etc and always ask yourself ... "What am I trying to show?" With the Heron it have been "Do I want to show the heron in it's environment?" "Or do I want to show the heron doing this thing?" The answer would require a very different composition.