First Wildlife posting. Critique desired~

angevin1

Hi folks. thank you for the wonderful Forum. Using this forum and the "lenses for Wildlife shooting" thread, I was able to decide on a lens, which I purchased last week for a romp in the swamp.

Looking at my photos I returned with, I could easily spot a few errors.

but what I need is some serious critique...on whatever you'd like to critique.

I suspect my technique is what needs improving most of all.

My biggest complaint is the images themselves. They do not appear to be rich in detail as I would like. Is that just a function of my lens/subject distance? I admit to taking them all handheld:

the Heron was 1/2000th
the Egret's were only 1/250th

lens 300f/4 @ f/4 and a 1.4 kenko tele

Any and all help is appreciated: Constructive criticism welcomed~

Thanks in advance~





Gallery here, for a closer look~

Giphsub

Looks like a good start to me. I like the composition of the first the most. Great reflection with low angle,

DeeCajun

I love all of these! Very crisp !

bfjr

Yes good start

3 & 4 the strongest here

angevin1

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement. I like them too, but also want some discerning eyes to critique them. Tell me errors they see that I did not, especially errors in technique: lighting/exposure/focal length/Stuff I didn't think about

I had some color cast issues I tried to deal with in LR2, and were reminiscent of bridal gowns on green lawns making the gown turn blue-ish

Thanks again ~

Harryb

Hey Tom,

Not a bad set. Its hard to get good details in those white egrets. In your post processing, using layer masks you might want to selectively lower the exposure on the egret and see if that brings out a few more details.

In the heron capture you were shooting against the light it appears. That will not give you the sharpest image. I would also step down the aperture from the 4 you were shooting at to at least f/8. You were shooting with the D700 so you could have upped your ISO to maintain you shutter speed.

I have used Kenko TCs in the past and it was a very mixed experience. When your budget allows I would go for a Nikon TC.

angevin1

Harryb wrote:

Hey Tom,

Not a bad set. Its hard to get good details in those white egrets. In your post processing, using layer masks you might want to selectively lower the exposure on the egret and see if that brings out a few more details.

In the heron capture you were shooting against the light it appears. That will not give you the sharpest image. I would also step down the aperture from the 4 you were shooting at to at least f/8. You were shooting with the D700 so you could have upped your ISO to maintain you shutter speed.

I have used Kenko TCs in the past and it was a very mixed experience. When your budget allows I would go for a Nikon TC.

Thanks Harryb~!

I looked all over for the proper Nikon TC for this older f/4 but could only find this kenko. Due to poor weather over here last week when the lens arrived, i couldn't get a proper test in for the f/? number that would work best. I will definitely put f/8 and some tests on my to do list.

Glad to hear it may be only my technique that suffers here...I also may try a few shots without the kenko in place to see how that may effect the outcome.

Thanks again for the valuable discerning eye/s~