Watch the birdie!

[shane shacaluga]

Here is another image of the same European Robin I posted yesterday.

D800e
Nikon 200-500 @ 500mm handheld
f6,3
1/200
ISO 800

Cloned out a bright branch intersecting the BG and ran NR

Selective sharpened the subject and reduced some of the brightness of the perch

Thanks for your comments

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent details on the head and breast. Nice overall.

[Grace Scalzo]

what a fun image to view...the thumbnail did not entice me but the image does. Just cute, in almost a child-like way. That background is getting out of control with posturizing evident. I'm sure that others can suggest a fix, a bit beyond my skill set.

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks guys

I tend to get this posturizing on a few images after running NR on the BG. Hope the pros can advise how to stop this happening

[keith mitchell]

Nice typical Robin pose ,nice and sharp with plenty of detail, did wonder if it was a bit blue but not sure. That new gear is working well Shane.

Keith.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Shane, if I'm looking at the right area there does appear to be some repetitive patterns, top right quarter and a hint of an element creeping in on the RH trim edge as viewed?

If you have the image content then I might suggest pushing the subject more to the right with more space to the left, as I find the subject moving left if you know what I mean. At 800 I'm surprised you have much noise, unless you have lifted (brightened) the overall image, however I would be temped to increase the ISO for more SS. Like the head on look. The 'posterisation' I think isn't an issue, it's more the repeat pattern for me, you may get it sometimes with compression, but IMHO it's rare.

TFS
Steve

[shane shacaluga]

Hi Shane, if I'm looking at the right area there does appear to be some repetitive patterns, top right quarter and a hint of an element creeping in on the RH trim edge as viewed?

If you have the image content then I might suggest pushing the subject more to the right with more space to the left, as I find the subject moving left if you know what I mean. At 800 I'm surprised you have much noise, unless you have lifted (brightened) the overall image, however I would be temped to increase the ISO for more SS. Like the head on look. The 'posterisation' I think isn't an issue, it's more the repeat pattern for me, you may get it sometimes with compression, but IMHO it's rare.

TFS
Steve

Thanks Steve, i think i raised this 0.25EV in ACR before exporting to CS5. There wasnt much noise. My comment was more for some other images that tend to show more posterisation

Yes top right is where the branch intersected. Will move subject a bit to the right as I have some room left to play with on the original frame

Thanks again

[Steve Kaluski]

i think i raised this 0.25EV in ACR before exporting to CS5

Hi Shane, in the grand scheme of things that isn't worth thinking about, as it's so little, are you using ETTR method and checking the histogram, the more you can push, the more information you will capture, the better the file.
Without checking or knowing the history to the workflow, personally I would be guessing. It may come back to saturation in key colours, compression, how you actually composed the file etc... Does the BKG look blotchy/posterised in the high res file? Are you making an 8bitt from the 16 bit?

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks Steve, yes keeping ETTR in my head when taking pics and try to adjust as much as possible but as I am usually walking about I dont know how long the subject will stay put. In those cases I hope the initial settings I chose are good enough for a few shots then check and adjust accordingly if possible

The BG looks perfect in the original, this was close to 4000 pixels wide as cropped. Not changing the bits as far as I know and using Bicubic downsampling (not sure what that is but someone posted it somewhere that it was the best method to resize)

Thank again for your time

[Steve Kaluski]

OK, I just wondered if you were adding in an additional stage prior to for Save for Web. To save hi jacking the thread, could you PM the workflow from when you crop the image, just a simple step by step and your email. If I think of anything to help I can then attach some screen grabs FWIW.

Cheers

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the feather detail, eye contact, composition and complimentary BG. Very well done Shane.