Green Jay

[kevin Hice]

Shot in Tx last February drawn with food.Processed with Dpp 4.Photoshop. No sharpening added and cloned out some of the branch that was protruding into the leg and feathers. Comments and critiques appreciated.
Canon 5D Mark 1V
500 f/4 L Is
700 mm
Av
5.6
1/800
Iso 500

[Steve Kaluski]

No sharpening added

Hi Kevin, why did you not add any sharpening, as ALL digital files require sharpening, irrespective wether you add any 'pre-sharpening' at the Raw stage, or just at 'perceived' Output sharpening, you must sharpen any image for final output to whatever medium it's for. I would therefore suggest you sharpen and repost.

If you do revisit the file, then just either open up the Blacks or any Contrast added as that black plumage is just a wee bit dark and you also get to see the eye. On the blue just drop the Saturation a bit and up it in Luminance, Ditto the Green, maybe a tweak in the Hue too, but be mindful and use a light hand these are powerful and GLOBAL adjustments. :w3

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Kevin ... like this one . Funny expression in the birds behavior .... I guess he is in " checking mode " .
Overall nice colors and tones , agree with Steve about his tonal and color suggestions ..... specially with his " advice " using a light hand when performing changes :w3. Ditto about the sharpening routine .... wonder where it is coming from to sharpen an image once ????

TFS Andreas

[John Mack]

Nice settning and pose. Killer background. Interesting that the bird is banded.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

A nice looking bird, inquisitive pose and good perch. BG is nice too. Great advice by Steve and Andreas.

[kevin Hice]

Re Post Steve I do think it is better but still not their. I did sharpen the reason I didn't sharpen is I had another frame and tried to sharpen and it just looked so bad. The Jay has coarse feathers or something is going on that just looked bad. This frame didn't look so bad when I sharpened

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Kevin, ultimately it all comes back to the raw, is it exposed corrected and is it Sharp, if it's yes on both counts then your are flying... Personally I'm not fussed if you pre sharpen in Raw or not, or what type of sharpening you choose to use, but at this stage you are sharpening at the OUTPUT size ie 1600px for posting here and it's what's know as 'perceived' sharpening. If it's looking crunch then you perhaps are using too much, probably in the Amount and Radius, or there might be additional elements like too much Contrast as that is a form of sharpening too.

Kevin I've got one more day at home then I'm back up north so if you want to fire over the Raw happy to look and advise.

The attached is a direct manipulation of the OP that had no sharpening.

Steve

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Kevin thanks for the file and IMHO this is what I think.

- Sharpness could be better, both eye and bill are reasonably sharp, but nothing more.
- Continuous shoot set to Fast, these birds move and low isn't quick enough
- It was about a third of a stop under, no problem in bringing it up in PP as the ISO was low
- Not enough DoF, try f/8 or 9
- Increase SS to around 1/1600, with increased DoF ISO may have gone to 1600, but no big deal
- Shot AF single or the cross, avoid zone focus as you were getting close to the perch and you don't want it to latch onto the perch
- A fraction closer to the subject to avoid cropping too hard, just because you have the pixels why shoot so far away, move
- Concealment of food on the perch needs to be applied better to again, avoid any cloning and restricting crops, albeit it's seconds to clone out, but additional time on the computer
- Wetting the log may also help reduce the HL's too in bright light????

The attached was all done in LR

WB: Temp 4600, Tint +5 Temp in LR isn't the same in ACR or DPP
Exp +0.30
Shadows +10
Blacks +20
Saturation +10

Slight Tweak in Tonal Curve

'Global' Colour balance to subject vis HSL panel (can/should be then refined via PS)
Exported via LR for web output

NO NR APPLIED!!!!!!!!

[kevin Hice]

Thanks Steve really appreciate the suggestions and taking the time to work on the file. I get a chance I will do a similar frame and see if I can improve on the processing.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Kevin, I personally feel it’s the culmination of everything, not just PP. Good luck and I will be eager to see the fruits of your labours, but just take you time, that is crucial.