Ruby-throated Hummingbird

[Joseph Przybyla]

I have hummingbirds coming regularly to the Fire Bush in my backyard. I find the best conditions are a bright overcast with little or no shadows. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm F/5.6 VR AF-S ED PF, Handheld
1/3200 F/5.6 Center-weighted Metering EV +1 ISO 5000 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 500mm (750mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2021 and Neat Image for noise reduction
Cropped for composition and presentation

[David Roach]

You are getting some great opportunities and taking full advantage. Love the inclusion of the flowers and the soft light. TFS

[Jonathan Ashton]

Superb! Colours details and light look spot on, excellent work.
The only very minor reservation I have is that I perceive a sharp borderline between the noise reduction and non noise reduction, perhaps a feather of 1-1.5px would help?? Just a suggestion.

[Steve Kaluski]

Just wished the petal wasn't overlapping the wing Joe. You have certainly upped your game, what have you changed?

TFS
Steve

[Joseph Przybyla]

Superb! Colours details and light look spot on, excellent work.
The only very minor reservation I have is that I perceive a sharp borderline between the noise reduction and non noise reduction, perhaps a feather of 1-1.5px would help?? Just a suggestion.

Good Morning Jon, thank you for viewing and commenting. I know it is against what most say and think but I apply noise reduction on the whole image using Neat Image. If the background is pure Neat Image reads the amount of noise there, so on a background without detail it will only remove noise. Also most of my images if I do my job and expose correctly have minor noise. I don't understand when I read that noise was removed from the background but not on the bird etc.. If the image has noise it is on all parts of the image, actually probably more on a dark bird. Thanks again...

[Joseph Przybyla]

Just wished the petal wasn't overlapping the wing Joe. You have certainly upped your game, what have you changed?

TFS
Steve

Good morning Steve, thank you for viewing and commenting. Well, I began using Adobe Standard as a color profile. Other than that I guess it is just paying more attention to details and working harder at getting the sharpening correct. Thanks again...

P.S. The flower petal overlapping the wing tip doesn't bother me too much. I could have removed that but I left it. If it had been the head that was overlapped I would have been bummed out. I also use Adobe Sensei to set the initial exposure holding down the Shift key and double clicking the exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, white, black, vibrance and saturation. Then depending what my eyes tell me I tweak the sliders or use a curve for the final tone mapping.

[Steve Kaluski]

Good morning Steve, thank you for viewing and commenting.

The only way to go for Lr and the right starting point Joe, no question.


I also use Adobe Sensei to set the initial exposure

Ooh another AI product, a bit fancy for me, it's OK for you young blades on the block, I'll stick to the simple basics of what I know in Adobe after all these years, a bit too long in the tooth to start using AI products. The closest you'll get me to AI is Star Trek and William S!!!! :bg3::bg3:

[Jonathan Ashton]

Good Morning Jon, thank you for viewing and commenting. I know it is against what most say and think but I apply noise reduction on the whole image using Neat Image. If the background is pure Neat Image reads the amount of noise there, so on a background without detail it will only remove noise. Also most of my images if I do my job and expose correctly have minor noise. I don't understand when I read that noise was removed from the background but not on the bird etc.. If the image has noise it is on all parts of the image, actually probably more on a dark bird. Thanks again...


Ok thanks Jo, in that case what I noticed must have been the junction of sharpen and non sharpen I guess?

[Bill Dix]

Very nice, Joe. I'm always happy to see good hummer shots in natural light without multi-flash setups. Good pose and exposure. My only thought would be to feather the selection of the flower slightly before sharpening, if that applies to your work flow.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Very nice, Joe. I'm always happy to see good hummer shots in natural light without multi-flash setups. Good pose and exposure. My only thought would be to feather the selection of the flower slightly before sharpening, if that applies to your work flow.

Hi Bill, thank you for viewing and commenting. Your suggestions is well taken, I know there is a halo around the edge of a couple of blossoms. I think the contrast of the bright orange against the gray background caused that which I think I can fix in Photoshop. Thanks again...

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, much appreciated.