Favorite wader...

[David Roach]

EOS R EF 400 DO I 1.4xtc II f6.3 1/6400 ​ISO 800 HH, Created May last year. Can't wait for RF telephoto to get back to these beauties.

[Paul Burdett]

Beautiful image David. Well exposed, love the feather detail, HA and that eye! The vertical crop works well...just thinking I'd like a little more room on the left,,,small nit pic. Nice smooth BG too.

[gail bisson]

Very good. I like the crop and the exposure on the whites.
I see a bit of magenta fringing on the bill and other area. A simple check of the box in LR to reduce fringing is all that is needed usually.
The image seems to have a film on it and I would add a bit of contrast or dehaze.
Gail

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi David, the simplicity and basic colour palette really makes this for me, the framing works too here.

Although there does look like a sharpening halo on the bill, the subject requires more sharpening, it's soft. A channels adjustment and some additional sharpening pulls out the detail originally captured, retaining those lovely whites too.

TFS
Steve

[John Mack]

Solid portrait of this white morph. The blue water background is nice. Yes to some more sharpening.

[Brian Sump]

David, such a beautiful bird.

IMO Steve's repost introduced too much noise but sure there's a happy landing spot for a touch more sharpening. Agree with Gail on a touch of dehaze. Might be worth playing with a touch of warming too if you haven't, not sure how things appeared in person.

TFS!

[David Roach]

David, such a beautiful bird.

IMO Steve's repost introduced too much noise but sure there's a happy landing spot for a touch more sharpening. Agree with Gail on a touch of dehaze. Might be worth playing with a touch of warming too if you haven't, not sure how things appeared in person.

TFS!

Brian and Gail, I blew the sharpening by choosing the presharpening rather than final sharpening app in the suite I use and this 15year old (especially the TC) combo does bring some sharpening challenges. That's the reason for the film/haze. I will try to rework from scratch to post later. Thanks as always for your very valued inputs.

[David Roach]

Very good. I like the crop and the exposure on the whites.
I see a bit of magenta fringing on the bill and other area. A simple check of the box in LR to reduce fringing is all that is needed usually.
The image seems to have a film on it and I would add a bit of contrast or dehaze.
Gail

Hi Gail, Thanks for your always helpful eyes and expertise. First, this old lens combo should have been stopped down one full stop for sharpness everywhere. I redid PP from scratch and used proper SH suite. I don't use LR so just reduced magenta in DPP. Not sure that helped with fringing. Would love to learn how to do same thing in PS. Of course getting a modern super telephoto will also help and it's coming soon. Added a little more contrast, so hope that helps a little more. Thanks as always for your eagle eyes and astute advice.

[Steve Kaluski]

IMO Steve's repost introduced too much noise but sure there's a happy landing spot for a touch more sharpening.

Hi Brian, are you referring ti the bill? If so, it's not noise just coarseness IMHO because it was lifted slightly, I'm more concerned about the bigger picture and that is that the image needs sharpening and in the RP of David's I'm struggling to see any difference between the two.

There should not be any noise at ISO800, but if folk insist on applying NR below ISO1600/2000 it must ALWAYS be done at the RAW stage, never ever on a 'baked' Tiff.

[David Roach]

Hi Brian, are you referring ti the bill? If so, it's not noise just coarseness IMHO because it was lifted slightly, I'm more concerned about the bigger picture and that is that the image needs sharpening and in the RP of David's I'm struggling to see any difference between the two.

There should not be any noise at ISO800, but if folk insist on applying NR below ISO1600/2000 it must ALWAYS be done at the RAW stage, never ever on a 'baked' Tiff.

Hi Steve, You are right (as usual), noise is not an issue in this image. The main issue is the version I glass with version II TC (15 years ago) was not an ideal combo (to say the least). I should have been stopped down to at least f8 to get this critically sharp. You are also correct, in the OP I raised the shadows too far. So, on the repost, I raised the shadows less and tried to sharpen the eye further without getting crunchy. The raw sharpener, used by mistake in OP, also ads what looks like grainy noise. So, the real solution is to know your equipment and get it right in the field. The real solution to have similar IQ to what the people on this forum post is to get newer glass. Arash made this point as soon as I rejoined this forum after a 10 year hiatus. The RF 70-200 has really made me appreciate the difference between first generation and later glass (even though I already knew it).

Thanks as always for all the valued help. Please keep it coming.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I will not go through or repeat what has been said - but I just want to say you got a beautiful individual, and composed perfectly as a vertical.

As for NR - I've never done it at the raw stage (nor the converted tif), but only on the "final" output edit. Anyhow, many ways to skin a cat.