Sharpening Question

[Harold Davis]

Shot this little guy this morning at Tigertail Beach on Marco Island. It's a fairly heavy crop and wasnt as easy to process as others that arent cropped so much. I have seen some people say that you can sharpen several times lightly and it works better. Would that work in a case like this or is it the fact that image quality just isnt there. I usually just selectively sharpen my subject at ~66-5-4. Then i'll maybe work on the eye if needed.

D300, Bigma at 500mm, f/6.3, 1/2000s, 0EV, ISO 400, flash fill no beamer at +1.0EV.

Thanks for looking and appreciate your comments and critiques!

[Gus Cobos]

Doctor Davis,
I like the composition. You tell me that this is a heavy crop? See if you can include the entire reflection; from what I am seeing, the reflection is sharp, and warrants the full reflection; if possible. The color rendition is very good, with sharp details. the pale blue background compliments your little guy very well I like the tucked chin and head position, and the eye is clear and sharp. you did very well...and to top it off; you got full of mud and sand, because the low capture angle rocks...well done...:):cool:

As far as selective sharpening goes, I usually start with 2% and gingerly apply several passes as needed...:D

[Harold Davis]

thanks gus. the top of the reflection ended up on a mud bar. so no go for the full! i tried repositioning with several birds for that purpose and everyone had too many ripples for a good reflection!!

[Oscar Zangroniz]

And you didn't even bother to tell your friends you were going!!!!
I like it as presented, too bad about the reflection.
Regards,

[Alfred Forns]

Lovely image Harold !!!

Don't think there is anything to doing several passes, I know lots of people swear by it !!

[Jackie Schuknecht]

What ever you did it looks pretty good to me Harold. I am no sharpening expert so I can't be of too much help here.

[Desmond Chan]

The bird looks sharp enough to me, Harold.

I think I know what you're talking about re multi-passes sharpening. I've got the book "Real World Sharpening" and it talks about - what else - sharpening. I wonder if it really make any noticeable differences though to the naked eyes of most people. I personally use smart sharpen on the lightness channel and then high-pass after changing the image back to RGB mode.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Mr H - Nice - I also would have liked to see the full reflection - but looks plenty sharp to me - maybe a tad of work on the eye.

Nice one.

There is a big discussion on sharpening in the ETL forum.

[Jeni Williams]

Looks pretty sharp to me!!!

[Gus Hallgren]

Hi Harold:
I like multiple small passes in RGB, and also lab mode . . . however, I think your lovely bird is perfect as is. Sure full reflection would be nice, however, I would like a billion dollar bailout.

Good work, Young Man.

Uncle Gus

[Gail Spitler]

Hi Harold - I tried playing around with the image a bit. Technically I think there is room for a tad more sharpening (remember I'm very non-expert in pp) but it seemed like I was really forcing it if I tried even 2 passes. Then I looked more carefully at the bird. This is a light brown bird with very well worn plumage. I wonder if the level of sharpening in your original is the most one should do to accurately depict this bird? Worn feathers are not supposed to look crisp.
It is a lovely image.
Gail

[Gus Hallgren]

Harold:

Picture is worth a 1000 words. Here's an example of 2 passes using Lab Mode & USM, 15,1.0,0 . . .

Just for comparison . . . Still like original, though you can see beak is tucked under feathers a wee bit clearer here?

Uncle Gus

[Harold Davis]

thanks everyone for the help and comments! the bigger problem for me was when i was working the RAW. i could see the details were not there because it wouldnt take the standard sharpening. noise and what i call crap (sorry) was creeping in.

thanks a ton again!! and everyone have a great day!