Ferruginous Hawk (c)

[Bill Dix]

One more from the raptor show at the Sonora Desert Museum in 2015.

D700, 500f4, ISO 2000, 1/2000s @ f/7.1 manual

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Amazing looking raptor with powerful talons. The raised foot ads a nice touch. Though captive, the nice perch and comp work well here Bill.

[David Roach]

Love the pose, perch, framing and BG. A sweet frame, for sure. TFS

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Bill, have you got things ALL sorted now?

I like the overall framing and size within frame, nice to see the talons. Overall it's looking quite noisy, was the image under exposed and or a large crop? Techs look good and ditto the overall form in th subject, but balancing the darks and light better I think will deliver the goods. Perhaps some more mid tone in the chest too.

TFS
Steve

[annmpacheco]

Such a powerful hawk and nicely photographed Bill. I'm curious to see a repost after Steve's suggestions. Keep working on this one!

[Brian Sump]

Bill, really nice pose from one of my favorite raptors. The gaze is strong and sharp.

I could use a little more contrast, but what's new there. Also might wish the foliage didn't intersect the head in the background but a minor nit.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Bill, as it stands the OP is to changeable as it stands having tired a RP. As you know all my comments are always based on applying my comments to the image, in that way I know it works, rather than making an assumption. Although away, happy to have a punt on the Raw. I wondering if things are still not quite in alignment re workflow.

Drop me a PM if you want to pop the file over the pond.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Just a beauty, Bill. Both your capture and the hawk. I like the temperature of the light, and I'm guessing from your location the sun is reflecting back on the hawk from a sandy or light dirt, adding a nice fill. The green bush in the background, to me adds a nice depth.


Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu (http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu)

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all for the comments and suggestions. The OP was processed back in 2015, with old software and old skills. It was almost perfectly exposed - actually overexposed by 1/3 stop or less. It was a reasonably large crop. I'm not seeing much of the noise that Steve refers to, but thought I should give it another go. Here's a repost, starting from scratch with the RAW file. I used Topaz DeNoise AI, separately on bird and BG (it didn't detect much noise on the bird); added a bit of black to the neutrals, and also 30% Tonal Contrast on the bird. I kept the crop somewhat looser than in the OP. The net result looked pretty good to my eye, but when I compare the RP to the OP, the RP if anything looks just slightly less contrasty than the OP. It also looks as if I may have added a bit of saturation to the OP back in 2015, but frankly I don't remember what I did to it. Anyway, if anyone cares to offer a comment on the RP, or a preference for one or the other, please let me know.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Bill, the RP works for me and you have detail and the areas that I thought may have been noise (coarseness) has all gone, well worth the extra work. :cheers:

Adding Contrast, well I'm not even going to go there Bill, if folk wish to add it fine, but then you loose detail, then you over sharpen, and you are on the merry go round...

My only comment and this applies to both, there is a hint of magenta to my eye masking the whole image, address this and the colours look 'purer' IMHO, the sky is cleaner and you have hints of cloud too which add in my book, but to what degree of blue, well that's your call you were there.

Bill just my take, but I'm glad you post the RP.

Steve

[Bill Dix]

Thanks Steve. You're right about the magenta. Your RP helps.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks Steve. You're right about the magenta. Your RP helps.

My pleasure Bill, occasionally it helps having many years under you belt with LR & PS. Are you up & running now?

[Bill Dix]

My pleasure Bill, occasionally it helps having many years under you belt with LR & PS. Are you up & running now?

Yes, I think I'm good. I did find that when I loaded this 2015 file from Capture NX-D into PS, it converted to a Working Space sRGB instead of Adobe RGB. But I've fixed it, I hope.