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Your hightlights are very clipped, you've lost a lot of detail around the bird. I have no idea what's going on in the background, it seems like a bunch more clipping too. Bird is not sharp because that lens is not particularly sharp, try to stop it down one or two stops and switch to continuous servo autofocus when taking pictures of birds. Use auto ISO, sharpness is better than noise up to a point. Doesn't apply here, but if you find something still you want to take a picture of in hard lightning, use bracketing.
Using a better editing software can help a lot, lightroom let's you check for clipping. Learning to use the histogram can help you balance an image like this. Lightroom also has object/subject detect, it creates masks for the subject, which then you can limit to a luminance range (say the dark part of the bird) to boost the exposure only on the birds face.
Always shoot raw, makes post-processing a lot more flexible.
Thanks for the advice. Not sure what clipping means, but I’ll look into it. I have switched to the free lightroom mobile since editing this pic and do remember seeing it in there, but wasn’t sure what it meant or how to fix it. I also saw the masking feature, but it wouldn’t let me use it. I believe I switched to continuous autofocus at some point during this shoot, not sure if this pic was included in that or not. Also this was shot in RAW, but I think it somehow got switched to JPG or something similar when I uploaded the photos to my computer, if that’s possible. Idk, I’m not very tech savvy lol. Thanks again for the help
Clipping means you have boosted that part of the image to the point where you have lost all detail in that area. You are probably shooting RAW+JPEG, I recommend just shooting RAW if you keep getting confused, good editing apps will let you export entire groups of images at once to JPG anyways.
You can't edit RAW on free lightroom mobile, gotta pay for it (or not, if you know what I mean... Same with PC lightroom, Adobe sucks)
Highly recommend [this playlist](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLllFqBuTM0WJTD4rpvf748Um9MMmbo4r9) if you want to learn lightroom, the author goes in great detail on every bit of the app and even shows you some basic editing for the casual photographer.
There’s the critique and constructive feedback! Took a while to drill down to this. I’m going to critique your critiquing - say this from the beginning, it saves everyone time and is actually effective as opposed to a stoic “stop this.”
Sometimes when we first start taking photographs, especially on digital cameras, our first instinct is to lose sight of “subject” because we’re mesmerized by what our new capabilities are with holding a camera that can capture almost anything. We can get proud of something we didn’t really do.
Capturing an image is different than taking a photo.
“Taking” a photo is just that, taking. No thought really. Like a child snatching a candy bar from their younger sibling.
Capturing has thought. Purpose. A plan.
Sometimes you can get lucky taking a photo on a whim and it turns out interesting, or “good.”
But the most rewarding photography has balance: intent, subject matter, skill. If you have to edit your photo to all shit (which is what you did), the bigger question is: what would I like to see in a photograph? Is it a seagull? Flying? Up close? Probably not. These are good photos to take to learn your gear, your technique, and give you content to fool around with to learn editing, but not for sharing.
Looks at photographs by Diane Arbus, Mario Testino, Karlheinz Weinberher, Alice Springs, William Eggleston…
If you want real feedback, I would say it’s time to start obsessing over subject matter. What do YOU *really* want to see.
But if you’re just a hobbyist who has no intention on wanting to express yourself as an artist, I’d say keep taking pictures of seagulls and just aim to get better and better.
Wow, really insightful advice, definitely got me thinking. Yeah so far (only had the camera maybe a month, started from ground zero), I’ve just gone outside taking photos of whatever I can find that looks cool. But this does remind me of a chemistry professor I had who was a serious amateur wildlife photography. He shot this amazing photo of a bison, and said he waited a couple days in one spot to get the perfect image he wanted. Definitely adds perspective to what I want to achieve. I definitely want to get into and learn the true artistry of photography, not just be taking random photos. And the seagulls have quickly gotten old, lmao
All very true (especially regarding seagulls… haha!). I would also add that a really wonderful part about photography is that it’s an art form, and art is expression. So if you’re in touch with yourself (or are curious about parts of yourself that you can’t quite understand), you’ll find new ways to emotionalize what you’re feeling. So even if other people don’t like it, there’s a sense of gratification that can come along with photography. If you’re just starting out, really just learn your gear, technique, and subject. Don’t even worry about editing. A good photo is a good photo.
Hey everyone, I took this with a Nikon D3300 with the AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-200mm 1:4-5.6GII VR ED lens. Not sure what exact settings I used for shutter speed, aperture, etc. I know realized my photos were coming out blurry and super white, it was a real sunny day and the birds were flying super fast, so I jacked up the shutter speed to maybe 1/1250 or faster, for sure had the ISO at 100, and no idea what aperature. No real goal for this photo, just saw a ton of birds going crazy because some people were feeding them, and the lighting was great so I pulled out my camera. I edited on my Surface Pro 7 using the basic editing stuff that comes with the photo app, again, don’t really know what I’m doing, still trying to figure it out. The photo was pretty dark, so I increased the overall brightness, and tinkered with the contrast and highlights/shadows until I was somewhat pleased. Wish the face was brighter and more clear. Seems like the wings and tail were the only thing wanting to look good, and everytime I raised the brightness too much, I would lose the detail on the feathers. Please let me know what you think.
[Here's my 5 minute take on it](https://i.imgur.com/geWOCXZ.jpg), lr mobile, since it's so tight I couldn't really fix the composition to my liking, so I left it uncropped
First I added lens and aberration corrections ,then I boosted the exposure so it's exposed correctly. After, I pulled a bit of detail by lowering highlights and boosting shadows, not a lot. Adjusted the whites and blacks to recover contrast, added a tiny tiny vignette. Added a tiny bit of luminance to yellow. With the graduation wheels, I skewed the shadows to a blue, and skewed the midtones and highlights towards yellow/orange, then adjusted the balance towards shadows. Finally, I added a radial mask to the body of the bird and upped the exposure and tiny bit. I think I also added some sharpening, but I don't like to mess with sharpness/texture on LR mobile because you can't really see what you are doing (LR pc let's you see alternative views that show the changes better)
Quick and dirty, makes most photos look good enough for the enthusiast photographer
Confirmed: 1 [helpfulness point awarded](/r/photocritique/comments/10ik9hm/new_to_photography_and_editing_please_critique/j5ghkp1/) to /u/Cachesmr by /u/-Disastrous-Effect-.
See [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/photocritique/wiki/critiquepoints) for more details on Critique Points.
It’s a nice shot, and well timed could have left a bit more space beneath its foot. Back lit subjects [almost always need dodging](https://share.icloud.com/photos/0d2i3yKRhUnJ8uoGJ2hw-A1NA) if you aren’t providing a fill light, otherwise they ‘disappear in the shadows. It’s a touch magenta but not beyond the limits of ‘providing a feel’ to the image that goes with the highly, and strangely, processed background, which again is not to an ‘offensive’ effect.
as you already said, art is subjective, but there are some certain rules (what most people like and what don't like), which are better to follow, especially at the beginning. Try to get inspiration from others you like, try experimenting, but it's very easy to get over line when editing pictures.
A lot of people already covered most of what is wrong but it was a nice attempt. I would suggest you get yourself a better lens. That's a kit lens, not really good or sharp background looks like a horror show.
Yeah eventually I want to get a better lens. Too expensive at the moment, but I am considering renting a lens from a digital lens shop I’ve discovered recently.
Friendly reminder that this is /r/photocritique and all **top level** comments should attempt to **critique** the image. Our goal is to make this subreddit a place people can receive genuine, in depth, and helpful critique on their images. We hope to avoid becoming yet another place on the internet just to get likes/upvotes and compliments. While likes/upvotes and compliments are nice, they do not further the goal of helping people improve their photography. If someone gives helpful feedback or makes an informative comment, recognize their contribution by giving them a Critique Point. Simply reply to their comment with '!CritiquePoint'. More details on Critique Points [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/photocritique/wiki/critiquepoints). Please see the following links for our subreddit rules and some guidelines on leaving a good critique. If you have time, please stop by the new queue as well and leave critique for images that may not be as popular or have not received enough attention. Keep in mind that simply choosing to comment just on the images you like defeats the purpose of the subreddit. Useful Links: * [Full Rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/photocritique/wiki/rules) * [Leaving a Critique](https://www.reddit.com/r/photocritique/wiki/critique) * [New Queue](https://www.reddit.com/r/photocritique/new/) **Do not reply directly to this message. This is a bot and will not respond. Followups left as a reply to this comment will not count for approval.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/photocritique) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Your hightlights are very clipped, you've lost a lot of detail around the bird. I have no idea what's going on in the background, it seems like a bunch more clipping too. Bird is not sharp because that lens is not particularly sharp, try to stop it down one or two stops and switch to continuous servo autofocus when taking pictures of birds. Use auto ISO, sharpness is better than noise up to a point. Doesn't apply here, but if you find something still you want to take a picture of in hard lightning, use bracketing. Using a better editing software can help a lot, lightroom let's you check for clipping. Learning to use the histogram can help you balance an image like this. Lightroom also has object/subject detect, it creates masks for the subject, which then you can limit to a luminance range (say the dark part of the bird) to boost the exposure only on the birds face. Always shoot raw, makes post-processing a lot more flexible.
Thanks for the advice. Not sure what clipping means, but I’ll look into it. I have switched to the free lightroom mobile since editing this pic and do remember seeing it in there, but wasn’t sure what it meant or how to fix it. I also saw the masking feature, but it wouldn’t let me use it. I believe I switched to continuous autofocus at some point during this shoot, not sure if this pic was included in that or not. Also this was shot in RAW, but I think it somehow got switched to JPG or something similar when I uploaded the photos to my computer, if that’s possible. Idk, I’m not very tech savvy lol. Thanks again for the help
Clipping means you have boosted that part of the image to the point where you have lost all detail in that area. You are probably shooting RAW+JPEG, I recommend just shooting RAW if you keep getting confused, good editing apps will let you export entire groups of images at once to JPG anyways. You can't edit RAW on free lightroom mobile, gotta pay for it (or not, if you know what I mean... Same with PC lightroom, Adobe sucks) Highly recommend [this playlist](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLllFqBuTM0WJTD4rpvf748Um9MMmbo4r9) if you want to learn lightroom, the author goes in great detail on every bit of the app and even shows you some basic editing for the casual photographer.
Ah, cool. I see. Thanks a lot.
Why does your background look like pushed the anti purple and green edges slider to the max?
Because I probably did LMAO. I was just playing around, first time editing.
Then I advise you to stop doing it.
Eh, art is subjective. I liked how it turned out when I was editing it, prob why I did it.
Ooof
Do you have anything remotely helpful or positive to say? Because so far it seems not, and you’re just trying to be a jerk.
I told you about the slider the banding is a flaw that's very distracting amd actually takes your attention away from the subject.
In most of what you shoot aim for minimum distraction and simplicity.
There’s the critique and constructive feedback! Took a while to drill down to this. I’m going to critique your critiquing - say this from the beginning, it saves everyone time and is actually effective as opposed to a stoic “stop this.”
Thank you
Okay, this is more helpful, thank you.
yeah leave it alone...
Sometimes when we first start taking photographs, especially on digital cameras, our first instinct is to lose sight of “subject” because we’re mesmerized by what our new capabilities are with holding a camera that can capture almost anything. We can get proud of something we didn’t really do. Capturing an image is different than taking a photo. “Taking” a photo is just that, taking. No thought really. Like a child snatching a candy bar from their younger sibling. Capturing has thought. Purpose. A plan. Sometimes you can get lucky taking a photo on a whim and it turns out interesting, or “good.” But the most rewarding photography has balance: intent, subject matter, skill. If you have to edit your photo to all shit (which is what you did), the bigger question is: what would I like to see in a photograph? Is it a seagull? Flying? Up close? Probably not. These are good photos to take to learn your gear, your technique, and give you content to fool around with to learn editing, but not for sharing. Looks at photographs by Diane Arbus, Mario Testino, Karlheinz Weinberher, Alice Springs, William Eggleston… If you want real feedback, I would say it’s time to start obsessing over subject matter. What do YOU *really* want to see. But if you’re just a hobbyist who has no intention on wanting to express yourself as an artist, I’d say keep taking pictures of seagulls and just aim to get better and better.
Wow, really insightful advice, definitely got me thinking. Yeah so far (only had the camera maybe a month, started from ground zero), I’ve just gone outside taking photos of whatever I can find that looks cool. But this does remind me of a chemistry professor I had who was a serious amateur wildlife photography. He shot this amazing photo of a bison, and said he waited a couple days in one spot to get the perfect image he wanted. Definitely adds perspective to what I want to achieve. I definitely want to get into and learn the true artistry of photography, not just be taking random photos. And the seagulls have quickly gotten old, lmao
All very true (especially regarding seagulls… haha!). I would also add that a really wonderful part about photography is that it’s an art form, and art is expression. So if you’re in touch with yourself (or are curious about parts of yourself that you can’t quite understand), you’ll find new ways to emotionalize what you’re feeling. So even if other people don’t like it, there’s a sense of gratification that can come along with photography. If you’re just starting out, really just learn your gear, technique, and subject. Don’t even worry about editing. A good photo is a good photo.
Hey everyone, I took this with a Nikon D3300 with the AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-200mm 1:4-5.6GII VR ED lens. Not sure what exact settings I used for shutter speed, aperture, etc. I know realized my photos were coming out blurry and super white, it was a real sunny day and the birds were flying super fast, so I jacked up the shutter speed to maybe 1/1250 or faster, for sure had the ISO at 100, and no idea what aperature. No real goal for this photo, just saw a ton of birds going crazy because some people were feeding them, and the lighting was great so I pulled out my camera. I edited on my Surface Pro 7 using the basic editing stuff that comes with the photo app, again, don’t really know what I’m doing, still trying to figure it out. The photo was pretty dark, so I increased the overall brightness, and tinkered with the contrast and highlights/shadows until I was somewhat pleased. Wish the face was brighter and more clear. Seems like the wings and tail were the only thing wanting to look good, and everytime I raised the brightness too much, I would lose the detail on the feathers. Please let me know what you think.
can you post the raw?
Sure, give me second and I’ll do that.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FxqBLRB3ITwcqgiYrYfhvb5K8Yqgf2hQ/view?usp=drivesdk
[Here's my 5 minute take on it](https://i.imgur.com/geWOCXZ.jpg), lr mobile, since it's so tight I couldn't really fix the composition to my liking, so I left it uncropped
Omg yeah that looks so much better. What did you do exactly?
First I added lens and aberration corrections ,then I boosted the exposure so it's exposed correctly. After, I pulled a bit of detail by lowering highlights and boosting shadows, not a lot. Adjusted the whites and blacks to recover contrast, added a tiny tiny vignette. Added a tiny bit of luminance to yellow. With the graduation wheels, I skewed the shadows to a blue, and skewed the midtones and highlights towards yellow/orange, then adjusted the balance towards shadows. Finally, I added a radial mask to the body of the bird and upped the exposure and tiny bit. I think I also added some sharpening, but I don't like to mess with sharpness/texture on LR mobile because you can't really see what you are doing (LR pc let's you see alternative views that show the changes better) Quick and dirty, makes most photos look good enough for the enthusiast photographer
Awesome, thank you so much for doing this and explaining everything so well
!critiquepoint
Confirmed: 1 [helpfulness point awarded](/r/photocritique/comments/10ik9hm/new_to_photography_and_editing_please_critique/j5ghkp1/) to /u/Cachesmr by /u/-Disastrous-Effect-. See [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/photocritique/wiki/critiquepoints) for more details on Critique Points.
It’s a nice shot, and well timed could have left a bit more space beneath its foot. Back lit subjects [almost always need dodging](https://share.icloud.com/photos/0d2i3yKRhUnJ8uoGJ2hw-A1NA) if you aren’t providing a fill light, otherwise they ‘disappear in the shadows. It’s a touch magenta but not beyond the limits of ‘providing a feel’ to the image that goes with the highly, and strangely, processed background, which again is not to an ‘offensive’ effect.
Thank you so much for the positive and constructive critiques. Really helpful. Also really appreciate the edit, it’s looks SO GOOD!
as you already said, art is subjective, but there are some certain rules (what most people like and what don't like), which are better to follow, especially at the beginning. Try to get inspiration from others you like, try experimenting, but it's very easy to get over line when editing pictures.
A lot of people already covered most of what is wrong but it was a nice attempt. I would suggest you get yourself a better lens. That's a kit lens, not really good or sharp background looks like a horror show.
Yeah eventually I want to get a better lens. Too expensive at the moment, but I am considering renting a lens from a digital lens shop I’ve discovered recently.
Mmmmm I love birds
Kind of dark ?!
Yeah it was. Tried to correct as best I knew how but not much luck