RedTail Launch

[Paul Lagasi]

On a recent successful trip to Arizona, this Redtail let us get very close, instead of launching away from us (which is usual), as I was taking his image he went sideways, decent image quality. I've started using 14-bit on my D300, I'm losing a bit on FPS but he gain in information is worth it.

D300
Nikon 300 2.8 w 1.4tc
f-7.1
1/2500sec.
iso-800
Shutter Priority
Pattern
cropped
handheld
shot as jpeg
left eye was in shade non-recoverable, replaced same

[Bryan Hix]

I like the action and the stare. Good job replacing the eye! The bird seems a little soft and I might try a different crop. It seems like the birds is launching off to the left, so to my eye it seems like that's where it needs more room. I am no expert, so maybe that's no correct.

[Paul Lagasi]

Good point...I am not sure why its soft..larger size is very sharp

[Dave Leroy]

I really like the pose of bird with excellent eye contact and wing position.
I am no expert either, but given the wing position I like this crop.
Really good job on the eye.
Dave

[Markus Jais]

Great light and wonderful wing pose. I like the crop as it is.

Markus

[Arthur Morris]

Killer pose but it is all downhill from there. It does not look at all sharp, IQ is poor, and it looks over-saturated and too contrasty. I too am fine with the crop.

[Paul Lagasi]

Maybe its something I'm doing thats causing my images to not look sharp on BPN, this is same image processed using NX instead of CS4...is it any better?

[Myer Bornstein]

I am not sure I can tell the difference

[Randy Stout]

Paul:

It does look sharper (repost) but I think part of that impression is that the contrast is even higher than the OP>

I tried a small reverse S curve on the original, and some selective sharpening, and felt it displayed a bit better.

The reverse S curve also reduced the apparent oversaturation of the original.

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Paul, I thought that I posted this yesterday but I guess that it never loaded. IAC, your repost is better but still too contrasty, mid-tones to dark, and too saturated. For my repost I simply followed the basic workflow steps in those areas from Digital Basics.