Birdie help... (not the Golf birdie either...)

TexPhotog

First off, I am having problems adding a link to the photograph that I wanted to show, so here is a link to the whole gallery.

http://www.pmaphotovideo.com/gallery/6940189_gdp8U#444133831_E45pt

Ok, so on a recent trip to the Grand Canyon, I shot this bird, which to me, looks like a Raven (please correct me if I'm wrong).

I am looking for feedback on these photographs, as I have never really shot birds before... especially the last photos that have people in the background; Should I crop those out? Should I leave them alone?

Any and all help/feedback/comments/critiques are welcomed and greatly appreciated...

Thank you -

Maestro

Miguel in that gallery it looks like you have two different types. The last few photos are of a common raven. The beak is a dead give away. The other bird is either a common grackle or brewer's blackbird. I honestly don't know. I'm leaning toward a brewer's though.

As far as tips for bird photography,

1) Use spot metering when possible, aim for the eye.
2) Try to get close enough to make the bird the focal point. Bring your viewer's eye to the bird 300mm lens is a bare minimum most of the time unless you have ninja stealth moves.
3) Related to number 2 is the background. Pay attention to it. You do not want a distracting background, or foreground, that detracts from the bird. Unless you have incredible photo editing skills I do not think you can clone out enough of the people in your images.
4) Find birds doing something interesting or incorporate a bit of the environment to add interest to the photograph.
5) Watch your target for a while. Birds usually develop routines of sorts. Eventually, you can find a nice perch that the bird likes to use. Set up there and wait, then wait some more and when you think you've waited long enough, wait a bit more. It will come.
6) Everything I just said has exceptions!

TexPhotog

Maestro wrote:

Miguel in that gallery it looks like you have two different types. The last few photos are of a common raven. The beak is a dead give away. The other bird is either a common grackle or brewer's blackbird. I honestly don't know. I'm leaning toward a brewer's though.

Thanks for the info... as you can see, I'm such NOT a bird shooter
As far as tips for bird photography, I kind of shot this while on a timed Grand Canyon tour, so I really didn't have much time for anything... the bird was just around, looked interesting and close enough and I started shooting.

Maestro wrote:

1) Use spot metering when possible, aim for the eye.

Check

Maestro wrote:

2) Try to get close enough to make the bird the focal point. Bring your viewer's eye to the bird 300mm lens is a bare minimum most of the time unless you have ninja stealth moves.

I'll ask Santa for a new 300mm lens for next year... as I only have a 200mm right now

Maestro wrote:

3) Related to number 2 is the background. Pay attention to it. You do not want a distracting background, or foreground, that detracts from the bird. Unless you have incredible photo editing skills I do not think you can clone out enough of the people in your images.

Bad bad me... I should know better, but again, it was just a quick shot of the bird - as for editing, I was thinking cropping instead of cloning... as I am so not a PS person

Maestro wrote:

4) Find birds doing something interesting or incorporate a bit of the environment to add interest to the photograph.

I think I have a couple of other shots that I'll need to add, and will be waiting for your feed back on those as well

Maestro wrote:

5) Watch your target for a while. Birds usually develop routines of sorts. Eventually, you can find a nice perch that the bird likes to use. Set up there and wait, then wait some more and when you think you've waited long enough, wait a bit more. It will come.

I will def. try to get some actual bird shooting time... that sounds relaxing...

Maestro wrote:

6) Everything I just said has exceptions!

But of course