my first submission. comments please

[dave el]

hopefully this pic will come out right

[Ian]

Re: my first submission. comments please

Hi Dave - I'd like to wish you a very warm welcome to the DPNow forum!

You are very brave to post straight into the critique board

I think you have done well to get in close to these fast moving sparrows. I'm not sure if you have achieved this through cropping? I see that you are using a long lens - 75-300 by any chance?

The main problems with your shots are the exposure and contrast. Three of them are over-exposed and one is mainly correctly exposed by its highlights (the brightest areas with detail) are burned out. I would experiment minus a few clicks on the exposure compensation control. Using spot metering, according to the exif data in your gallery, is good, but it can cause over-exposure if not used very carefully. I also see that the camera is set to manual white balance control - probably not necessary in normal sunny conditions. If you shoot using RAW, you can make fine adjustments later anyway.

Are you using a tripod, monopod or some other kind of camera support? This would be handy too.

I hope we can see more from you soon - but I guess some more sunshine would be handy first!

Ian