The pigeon usually gets dismissed as an unwelcome 'dinosaur' in our guardian on account of his ungainly appearance when feeding from the seed put out for smaller birds.
On closer examination, they have their attraction - here you see only a small hint of the colourful plumage on offer for those who care to look. This one wasn't for stopping to pose for the picture.
Talking of posing - I had cause to snap the High Sherriff at work today with my boss. As usual, the results were dreadful and barely worthy of the tweet required. it is so difficult to find anywhere without a chaotic background and enough light in and around our office building and stopping to play with settings and move things around just isn't an option. Anyone got any tips as it is beginning to get a bit embarrassing - its tempting to just use the phone?
I think a fast speed can help - or taking 3 shots at one time. One of them might work. The pigeon has a most ugly beak but amazing colours on its feathers!
Nice close-up. 365 does help us to look past the ordinary and sometimes ugly in order to see the beauty there. As for busy backgrounds, I sometimes put them in black and white and keep the subject in color- sort of like selective coloring but with more things in color.
@maggiemae the problem with a fast speed is that it doesn't let enough light in. I think my problem comes when I introduce a flash because I don't know how to adjust manual settings accordingly. I have no idea what Im doing with flash and my camera has only the basic inbuilt flash. Thanks for the advice. I think I should perhaps use one of the presets.
@777margo thanks Margo. Very kind of you to say so. @cruiser thank you Chris. Your interest much appreciated. @kwind thank you 'K' for taking the time to comment @olivetreeann indeed. that is what I like so much about this project. In fact photography has helped me to be more positive about things generally - there is always beauty and interest to be found. Thanks for the tips too. Unfortunately I cant do that for the work situation, but could give it a go at other times. @taffy thank you Taffy. You continue to encourage. I gave this quite a heavy crop because I didn't like the brown background and wanted just the eye and feathers to feature. @onewing Thank you Babs. That is a good idea for the background blur. I have tried it once or twice before. @moonmtn Thanks Kahsia. They can, indeed be very beautiful. @gardenfolk Thank you for your kind interest and comment.
I have always liked pigeons - the proper wood pigeon not the mixed up feral ones. This is beautiful!
And talking of taking shots with a phone, I use mine so much even though I have a bridge camera and a compact one. They take great pics nowadays and weigh a lot less!
@777margo thanks Margo. Very kind of you to say so.
@cruiser thank you Chris. Your interest much appreciated.
@kwind thank you 'K' for taking the time to comment
@olivetreeann indeed. that is what I like so much about this project. In fact photography has helped me to be more positive about things generally - there is always beauty and interest to be found. Thanks for the tips too. Unfortunately I cant do that for the work situation, but could give it a go at other times.
@taffy thank you Taffy. You continue to encourage. I gave this quite a heavy crop because I didn't like the brown background and wanted just the eye and feathers to feature.
@onewing Thank you Babs. That is a good idea for the background blur. I have tried it once or twice before.
@moonmtn Thanks Kahsia. They can, indeed be very beautiful.
@gardenfolk Thank you for your kind interest and comment.
And talking of taking shots with a phone, I use mine so much even though I have a bridge camera and a compact one. They take great pics nowadays and weigh a lot less!
http://365project.org/olivetreeann/themes-and-comp/2014-01-17
The instructions are based on using Picmonkey which as an ACE member you have access to.
Here's what it looks like with a person:
http://365project.org/olivetreeann/themes-and-comp/2015-09-06
A variation of this is here- where I made the background like a sketch and then left the subject as a regular photo.
http://365project.org/olivetreeann/365/2016-06-07
Thought they might inspire you to play around with some of the pictures you took for work and see what happens.