Red and Gray Morph Screech Owl

[Paul Kammen]

Owls near one another along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.

Nikon Z9; 800 5.6

Red Morph: 1/1250, f 5.6, ISO 3600
Gray Morph: 1/1250, f 5.6, ISO 2500

[Randy Stout]

Paul:

For some reason their stares and poses make me think of something out of Star Wars. Pretty dramatic poses, the centered composition works well with them.

The top image has a modest amount of noise in some areas, and both appear a bit over sharpened. Owl feathers that I have seen generally seem to have a softer texture, not quite as crisp as here.

I like the shadow treatment better in the second image.

Since I have a Z9 as well, just curious what software you are using for your post processing?

Cheers

Randy

[Paul Kammen]

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the comments.

My post processing was editing in RAW in Capture 1 22, brushing the bird a little as well to adjust for exposure, warmth, etc; then in PS using Topaz DeNoise, then a slight adjustment on color contrast on the bird, and a little detail extraction. I did also use Topaz Sharpener but actually didn't notice too much sharpening; in the RAW files the feather texture is there too, but perhaps the post processing enhanced it a bit much.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Paul ... for sure nice subjects and i do like the direct stare with the owls staying in their environment .

Sorry to say , IMHO , the processing does look a bit off .
The top image looks almost like a sepia toning with a washed out middle part of the frame .
I do see some artifacts or noise in both images , sharpening does look overdone to me .
That is all said as my personal taste ... others might see it different .

TFS Andreas

[Paul Kammen]

Appreciate the replies; I do have a lot of files from the area, here's a couple processed, with no use of the sharpner.

193145193146

[Andreas Liedmann]

Both files looking better ... at least to me in terms of sharpening .
So what is the benefit of Topaz Sharpening ???

Cheers Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Sorry Paul but the OP look hammered in PP, the RP are better, but less than idea especially from the Z9, it does produce some super clean files. I would look at getting a better WB first of all and the use PS for sharpening once cropped and ready to post.

TFS
Steve