Oriole

Nikon D7000, 500mm (Sigma 150-500), 1/100, f/6.3, ISO 1600, cropped and retouched

I knew we had orioles in our area, but this was the first time I ever actually saw one. So I had to take a picture.

On the plus side, I used the Sigma 150-500mm zoom to get in close. The light wasn’t the best, but cranking the ISO up to 1600 got a good exposure without slowing the shutter down too far.

Still, the shot faced challenges. In order to avoid spooking the subject, I shot the picture from inside my front door. That placed two panes of not-recently-cleaned glass between the bird and me. It didn’t mess the photo up (other than making it a little murky, easily corrected in Photoshop), but I did have to switch to manual focus, which resulted in a not-completely-perfect shot.

Here’s the unedited image:

Nikon D7000, 500mm (Sigma 150-500), 1/100, f/6.3, ISO 1600

While we’re playing around with this photo, let’s also delve deeper into shot composition. The uncropped photo leaves me with a lot of space around the bird. As originally shot, the composition isn’t especially interesting. But I’ve got plenty of room to play around with it in the editing stage.

The crop in the shot at the top is designed to place the visual emphasis on the oriole. It’s the sort of thing you’d expect to see in a birdwatching guide. But what if I cropped it differently?

Try this:

Nikon D7000, 500mm (Sigma 150-500), 1/100, f/6.3, ISO 1600, cropped and retouched

Or this:

Nikon D7000, 500mm (Sigma 150-500), 1/100, f/6.3, ISO 1600, cropped and retouched

How do the different compositions change how you react to the photos? How do they look different? How do they feel different? How does your eye move through them?