Male Prairie Chicken flying in to the lek.

[kevin Hice]

Shot at National Grasslands Sd. Processed with Dpp 4,Photoshop,Neat Image critiques and comments appreciated.
Canon 1DX 111
500f/4 L IS
700 mm
Av
8.0
1/3200
Iso 2500

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Kevin, I like the in-flight capture and room to fly into, but everything seems to be 'masked' with the overall cast of yellow. There is a lot more detail also that you are loosing in the OP. It may well be that it's in warm light, but there's no real difference colourwise, perhaps it's elements within DPP that has clouded things? Techs IMHO look OK, did you get the FP on the subject, hopefully AF one point to offer better accuracy?

IMHO if you get the balance more 'in-line' then you can take it in whichever direction you want as you have the platform, as I've said previously.

Hope the MKIII is nicely set up. :w3

TFS
Steve

[William Dickson]

Great flight pose captured here Kevin...Yes to a yellow cast all over the image.

Will

[John Mack]

Looks great all around. Nice pose and light. Love the warm feel and the background as well.

[David Roach]

Very cool pose and I love the warmth even though it could be toned down a little. The framing is spot on. TFS

[Jonathan Ashton]

Impressive capture but I have to concur, most definitely worth reprocessing and presenting.

[Dorian Anderson]

Fantastic action frame! Love the pose and super smooth surroundings. Framing is perfect. Agree about the slight yellow cast. Like the watermark behind!

[dankearl]

Very nice pose, I would low the exposure just a tad, I think it would really pop!

[kevin Hice]

Thanks Steve,I think the color cast is coming from saturation as I have been adding somewhere between eight and twelve points before I use a curves adjustment.I have tried every AF point and none seem to be better for me than large zone. These birds are so close and fast hardly any time to get on them and pan.
What are you referring to FP?

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Kevin, I just feel everything looks a bit washed out, creating a thin looking image with very limited tonal range within the subject, just my take.

Saturation only works in the top 50% ie 50-100% of the image, but at least the postings have a consistent issue for me, therefore I wonder if it's how you process your images and or, how 'bright' your monitor is calibrated too. Just trying to figure where you can improve things to get the best from your files. On previous images the FP (focus point) has been off, but I guess with Large Zone AF it will pick up the subject, or the nearest point, so you need to watch your DoF, albeit f/8 should swallow up things. Why did you swop to the MK3?

[kevin Hice]

Steve I really like the Mark 1V just couldn't get flight images and slow shutter,plus I would have to wait on enough light. I go out early in the dark and would miss opportunities. I shot as high as 5000,6400 Iso but not all turned out good, really hated to go over 3200. Just didn't have the shutter speed for moving objects.
How high of a ISO do you feel comfortable with the 1DX 111? I have shot at 6400 and some at 8000.

[Steve Kaluski]

shot as high as 5000,6400 Iso but not all turned out good, really hated to go over 3200.

I might agree with you there, but having posted an image at ISO5000 in wildlife the 5D4 image is fine. It all depends on the file and how you process it, so I wouldn't dismiss the 5D4, to me it's all comes back to knowing your cameras limitations.


How high of a ISO do you feel comfortable with the 1DX 111? I have shot at 6400 and some at 8000.

I have generally had reasonable light so haven't gone beyond 6400 and files are good, but again, it's a balancing act and learn how to build your techs/settings as sometimes you can avoid higher ISO. With the MK2 I have had no issues shooting at 12,800, 16,000 and above, but if you screw up on Exposure you will pay the price. I still think some folk 'lift' images creating noise/grain within the shadows at low ISO ie 2500, so get your exposure right and processing higher ISO will be easy.

My advice - 'Just because you can, doesn't mean you need too', pick your settings based on the setting. Likewise high speed shooting, BIF fine, but sometimes a slower frame rate allows the camera to create more keepers as it has time to 'predict' and you avoid filling your CF express card with thousands of frames that are identical.

[kevin Hice]

I totally agree Steve Thanks.

[arash_hazeghi]

love the pose and the BG, the image has a yellow cast and looks flat overall without fine feather details . needs some contrast and sharpness added to it

TFS

[David Salem]

Hey Kevin,

Hope all is well out there! Cool shot of this handsome cock bird coming in to the lek. Details and sun angle look great and I like the open beak and raised tufts. The yellow cast is very heavy and I have noticed it on your other Chicken images.

Have you ever tried "Auto Tone" in PS? It's a great tool to look at what the program thinks the tones of the image should look like. Not always perfect but gives you some kind of perspective to reproduce or there abouts. I try it on almost every image I process, then assess which way I want to process it.
This one was almost perfect with "Auto Tone" so I wanted to show you the one stroke outcome.
Hope this helps.

[arash_hazeghi]

Dave's re post is a big improvement in color balance but the IQ is lacking. see Dave's image http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php/151391-Fight!!-Fight!! this is how a tack sharp image should look like