First Winter Visitor - Siberian Stonechat

[Munish Kaushik]

Was out birding last weekend and saw the first winter visitor here...

Canon EOS 7D, Canon 100-400 F4.5-5.6L IS,
1/640, f7.1 @ISO 250

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8449/8027226662_7a5d63f54e_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/munishk/8027226662/)

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Munish, this fellow is identical to our stonechat, and you have exposed him very well. Quite a curved perch, ( I would tone it down a touch ) and the chat has posed nicely for you against the smooth BG.

[Nancy Bell]

You captured great colors and feather details in your image. If your name is not meant to be part of the overall design, I would probabply crop from the left side to the "P" in Photography. Then I would relocate your name elsewhere, but smaller so it does not compete with the image.

[Arthur Morris]

I like the overall image design, the pose, and the BKGR. The white perch could be toned down a bit. The image is a bit too contrasty and probably a bit over-sharpened, both leading to the too crisp jangly look.

[Shawn Zierman]

What a beautiful little bird. Posed very nicely, on a nice bit of perch.
Love everything about the image, except the sharpening...just a smidge too strong imo.

[Satish Ranadive]

Munish,
Fabulous image of stonechat. Very simple and very very sweet.
You have got nice advice from our renowned BPN members.

Regards.
Satish.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot. I really like the backgoround, excellent curved perch, great perch and details.
A tad over sharpend and agree on toning down the perch.
Well done.

[Munish Kaushik]

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback. I shall post a new reworked version tonight.

Cheers,
Munish

[Daniel Cadieux]

The sharpening and contrast need to be lessened, but the rest of the image look s good to me. Love the tiny feet!

[Munish Kaushik]

Reprocessed the Image entirely, Reduced clarity (It was 10 earlier), Lighten shadow areas a bit, Toned down the Perch in RAW, Also, reduced the contrast.

Comments & Critiques are always welcome :-)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8174/8033586284_134bce9f79_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/munishk/8033586284/)

[Arthur Morris]

Much, much improved. Just for the record books, when I was doing my conversions in ACR, 30 was my default for Clarity so that was not the problem.

[Munish Kaushik]

Thanks Artie,

Do you think keeping in camera sharpness at highest(7) can be the problem here. In post, I use the 3 pass usm for all my jpgs (96 dpi, 1000 px on the longer side).

[Arthur Morris]

In short, maybe. Where are you setting the in-camera sharpness????

What is 3 pass usm? What are your settings there?

[Munish Kaushik]

Hi Artie,

My in-camera sharpness is set to maximum at 7. Rest all settings are default.

3 Pass USM = 3 passes of Unsharp Mask in Photoshop with following setting for each of the passes respectively.
125, 0.5, 2
100, .3, 0
75, .2, 0

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Munish. First all, I am not sure that the in-camera sharpness settings do anything to a RAW file even one converted in DPP. Arash, are you there? But the problem would seem to be the 3-pass thing. I now sharpen all of my 1024 wide and 800 tall JPEGS with USM at 120-140 at 0.3 just once! Since I cut back from about 180-225 at .3 I have had no complaints about halos or oversharpening and all the images look great. I never use anything but 0.3 to sharpen a JPEG. I'd love to see a less sharpened version as the face in the repost is still a bit jangly. At least now we know why :).

[Munish Kaushik]

Thanks Artie,
I have checked in the DPP, it does make some effect when you move the slider from 3 to 7 & it retains that setting from camera when we process RAW file in DPP. Not sure if ACR retains/reads that at all. May be Arash can throw some more light here
Now, I know why people were complaining of over sharpening on most of my images. :-)

Here's the copy with just one pass of the sharpening. (125, 0.3 0)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8318/8036701993_725245570c_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/munishk/8036701993/)


Regards,
Munish

[Arthur Morris]

Beautiful. I know what Arash will say, "When converting the RAW files pick Sharpness from the dropdown menu. If it is not set to 3, set it to 3. You do not have to lower the Unsharp Mask settings once you switch to sharpen.

In PS, you might wish to select the face only and apply a contrast mask, USM at 10-15/55-65/0. It's not true sharpening but it works wonders. And anything is better than over-sharpened.

[Munish Kaushik]

Yes, Contrast sharp has work wonders. I applied the contrast mask to the above one (face only) 10,50 0.

This has been a good learning on the sharpening & some much needed corrections to my workflow. Thanks a ton Artie.


<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/munishk/8036701993/" title="3rd copy by KaushikMunish, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8318/8036701993_725245570c_b.jpg" width="1000" height="667" alt="3rd copy"></a>

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. Looks great to me. Now I can suggest our Digital Basics file; a PDF that is sent via e-mail with my complete Digital Workflow and dozens of great Photoshop tips. At present, it does not include DPP info as I have just started using that with my 1D X.

[Munish Kaushik]

I am already in possession of the Digital Basics file and learning and applying skills as I go. It has been a wonderful learning experience and I am enjoying as I bring more and more refinement to my workflow. :-)

Thanks again.