Settings are all wrong but what else?

[JackC]

Was trying to get shots of a wren when this caught my eye. Camera setting were way wrong, I kind of like it but where could it be improved?

 

[PEJU]

exp.compensation +1--1,5 is worth to try

 

[Jake Shoots Birds]

Not much you can do in-camera with lighting like this. Increasing exposure compensation, as mentioned, will likely blow out the lit flowers and definitely parts of the background. Some careful selective editing to bring out the shadowed flowers would improve it. That would involve some careful masking but it could be done.

 

[JackC]

Thank You Peter and Jake. I will try that.

 

[Kwazy]

With high contrast shots, HDR mode sometimes improves outcome. It does make the shot look more flat, but contrast can be later increased in post-processing. I've had a few occasions where it was the only way to not wash out the highlights and retain the shadows. Worth remembering it exists.

 

[Hali]

Have you thought about a vertical crop to only include the flowers in the light and the tree? It would focus the eye in, and as nice as the other flowers are, they are dark enough to be mostly overlooked but the breadth of the image pulls the eye away towards them before it goes back to the lit portion of the shot.

 

[JackC]

Have you thought about a vertical crop to only include the flowers in the light and the tree? It would focus the eye in, and as nice as the other flowers are, they are dark enough to be mostly overlooked but the breadth of the image pulls the eye away towards them before it goes back to the lit portion of the shot.

Good idea Hali, except I cannot crop all of the flowers on right hand side out. It still leaves a few dark ones and that looks weird with them hanging into the picture! I should have taken more time to compose but it was a “spur of the moment” shot. Thanks for your insight.

 

[Japeg]

Good idea Hali, except I cannot crop all of the flowers on right hand side out.

Sure you can.

 

[NickAndersonPhoto]

As mentioned, Mike, one of the things you can easily do in camera is compose your shot. Your flowers aren't going to run away so take your time. Just my opinion but the spray of blooms in the sunlight should be your focus point so bring them well into the frame so they dominate and control your depth of field to push the surrounds out of focus.