[Acroperus]

September 22, 2010 at 11:22 am

Thanks for the comments.

Jenny – this was taken on Wicklow Head last June. You should pay it a visit in the summer it can be very good.

Michael

[Acroperus]

August 20, 2010 at 8:07 am

Dave,

Mice image – a few things IMHO might improve it. The first is the boat, I find it a bit dark. Not sure if anything can be done to brighten it up. The other is the crop.There is too much sky IMHO. I think a pano crop gives a much better feel. I hope you don’t mind but I tried it and here is my result, let me know if I’m off the mark.

TFS

Michael

[Acroperus]

August 20, 2010 at 7:40 am

Ras, I like this shot, good colours, lovely sky. I have one thought about the composition. If you had moved a little to the left then the pathway would be more in the shot pointing to the top right hand corner and therefore drawing you more into the image. It is only a minor point as it is a lovely image.

TFS

Michael

[Acroperus]

August 20, 2010 at 7:36 am

Bobby,

Good shots, agree with Miki & Rob, the vignetting in the third shot is a bit strong. I think these shots have great potential, composition is great but they are all a bit dark. IMHO if they were brightened up a little (any more and you would loose the feeling you are trying to portray) and play around with the contrast you would have great images

TFS

Michael

[Acroperus]

August 19, 2010 at 9:32 pm

Mikka, you are right the 500 is expensive. I used to sail but wanted to get back to photoing birds so sold my half share in the boat and bought the lens. I have not regretted it once

Thanks for the comments

Michael

[Acroperus]

August 19, 2010 at 9:24 pm

Miki,you are correct practise is essential but reading is also very useful. You should read The art of Photography by Arthur Morris it is the bible for those of us who want to take good photos of birds.

Keep it up and things will improve and even if they don’t if you enjoy what you do getting a good shot is just a bonus

Michael

[Acroperus]

August 19, 2010 at 3:41 pm

Thanks Jenny

[Acroperus]

August 19, 2010 at 12:56 pm

Was this quite a large crop or were you using high ISO? The BG looks a little grainy. It could do with a bit of smoothing. The Wood pigeon itself needs another round of sharping – it is looking a bit soft. Taking photos into a bright sky usually ends up with the sky exposed correctly and the underside of the bird too dark. To overcome this you you should dial some exposure compensation. To get the bird exposed correctly here you would probably have to dial in +1EV or thereabouts. You could also get the same affect by doing a bit of PP in PS.

Michael

[Acroperus]

August 18, 2010 at 7:40 am

Mikka,

Lovely flower. Very sharp for handheld at 1/40s. My only criticism is the lighting. It seems a bit harsh and hence the dark shadows under some of the petels. Toning these shadows down a bit might improve the over all image. But all that said it is a lovely image

TFS

Michael

[Acroperus]

August 18, 2010 at 7:25 am

Lovely colours, light quite good and background is nice. Pity it is on the top of your finger. If you had found a branch with the same BG and lighting it would have been fabulous. Also, if the head was more visible it woul dhve improved it IMHO – eye contact and all that :wink:

Thanks for sharing

Michael

[Acroperus]

August 18, 2010 at 7:21 am

Dan, RAS, Thanks for the comments, Ill play around with the sky and see if I can improve on it and try to do some contracts work on the houses.

Michael

[Acroperus]

August 18, 2010 at 7:18 am

Thanks for that Jenny – I’ll try a tighter crop. Lighting was very bad, I’ll see if I can improve it any

Michael

[Acroperus]

August 17, 2010 at 2:48 pm

Bren,
Thanks for the repost.
Rob, you could start a long and sometimes heated discussion here about post processing etc. I sit in between. I try to get the best shot in the field but am not adverse to a bit of PP. Most people think that post probessing was invented with digital protography but that is incorrect. Dodge and burn came from post processing in film, where you had your little lollipop sticks and stopped parts getting more light than the rest and even in extreme circumstances removing ‘anomolies’ from the image. With digital photography it is so much easier and you can do so much more. Just because it is easier donen’t make it wrong.

Probably not the place for this discussion. Thanks for all the comments

Michael

[Acroperus]

August 17, 2010 at 7:23 am

This was taken in the Mashatu Game reserve in Botswana – fabulous place. If you want to see more shots from here then go to my website – http://www.michaelhogan.ie

Thanks for the comments

Michael

[Acroperus]

August 6, 2009 at 8:51 am

Just wondering if the ColorMunki is still for sale and for how much

Thanks

Michael