1st Spring Little Blue Heron at Harns Marsh

[Bob Pelkey]

95650

Very heavy crop here. Patience paid off for the bird possibly yawning.
It made no vocalization. Typical enhancements made with tripod used.
Not sure how to lighten darkest part of background alone.

1st Spring Little Blue Heron at Harns Marsh Preserve
Lehigh Acres, Florida USA

Canon EOS-1D Mark III (http://www.pbase.com/cameras/canon/eos_1d_mark_iii) ,Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS USM (http://www.pbase.com/cameras/canon/ef_600_4is)
1/2000s f/5.6 at 840.0mm iso400 hide exif (http://www.pbase.com/jkrnm5/image/135911833&exif=N)
<table align="center" border="1" cellpadding="1" width="450"><tbody><tr><td class="sb" colspan="2">Full EXIF Info</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">Date/Time</td><td class="lid">21-Jun-2011 07:19:43</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">Make</td><td class="lid">Canon</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">Model</td><td class="lid">Canon EOS-1D Mark III</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">Flash Used</td><td class="lid">No</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">Focal Length</td><td class="lid">840 mm</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">Exposure Time</td><td class="lid">1/2000 sec</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">Aperture</td><td class="lid">f/5.6</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">ISO Equivalent</td><td class="lid">400</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">Exposure Bias</td><td class="lid">-2/3</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">White Balance</td><td class="lid">
</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">Metering Mode</td><td class="lid">matrix (5)</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">JPEG Quality</td><td class="lid">
</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">Exposure Program</td><td class="lid">aperture priority (3)</td></tr> <tr><td class="lid" nowrap="nowrap">Focus Distance</td><td class="lid">40.3 m</td></tr></tbody></table>

[Marina Scarr]

Hi Bob:

Although I really like the light in this capture, as well as the open beak, the BG and the HA, I don't see any details in your bird's feathers. Based upon the information you provided, I would guess it's b/c of the large crop.

[Roger Clark]

Bob,
The image is very sharp, but I agree that there is oddly a lack of feather detail. Were some of the feathers saturated? From the catchlight, it looks like the sun was directly behind you, thus the phase angle was near zero degrees, making the image very flat. Would you please fillus in a little more?

Roger

[arash_hazeghi]

Unfortunately this image does not work because it does not look like a photograph but a watercolor painting made with a coarse brush. Whatever you have done to it has wiped out all the details and caused huge amounts of digital artifacts..In fact I first thought it was a photoshop art work rather than a photo. When you have a chance, visit the ETL forum or checkout Artie's guide on digital processing :)

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Bob, it would be interesting for you to share your steps or perhaps post the original before any processing. I have a feeling you have run a heavy NR over the whole image.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Agree with the comments made above, especially Arash's...No detail in the bird at all. I think just cropping and converting to JPEG would have given you a decent result but this has been way over PP'd...Arash's suggestion ree checking out Arthur's guide:S3:

[Bob Pelkey]

95739

I'm of course greatly appreciative of ALL the feedback.

The sun had just risen. This uncropped image was merely auto sharpened after
opening the JPEG image in Camera Raw in CS5. I'm well aware it would behoove
me to investigate Artie's tutorials which I've acquired, but have merely glanced at.
After cropping the image in Camera Raw, I sharpened it at 88 using a radius of 1.0,
Detail 25, Masking 0. Noise Reduction overall was Luminance 79, Lum. Detail 50,
Lum. Contrast 0, Lum. Color 0. After resizing, I sharpened the image slightly and
used the Lasso Tool to outline the bird from the background with the latter having
noise reduced with the Filter option at a strength of 3, preserving details at 25%,
reducing color noise at 45%, and sharpening details at 25%.

Arash, you have not been keeping up with Artie's blog. See his thoughts here . . .
http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2011/06/17/my-comments-on-your-commentsimage-1/
Read the paragraph with his second "smiley" in particular.

In a review of the steps I followed I just noticed the "remove JPEG artifact" check box.
Humm . . .

I don't know why, but I have run into the "muddy" effect in detail even at much closer range.
Any and all additional thoughts are very welcome.

[Chris Baker]

Hi Bob,

The original looks a tad soft to me and I think you've been a little ambitious with your crop. Even if the original were sharp you've taken at least 90% away and ended up with the inevitable "blocks". At this distance had it been sharp I'd have kept the whole of the bird and most of what is in front of it as shown. I've just cropped your jpeg and as you can see it's not sharp enough for closer viewing. Better luck next time eh.

[Roger Clark]

Hi Bob,

After seeing the full frame, it appears the best focus is in front of the bird. The great distance didn't help for feather detail, and finally the phase angle is too low, reducing fine texture. For this bird, I would have moved at least 10 degrees to the right, 20 degrees would have been better (angle from the sun, to the bird, and to you).

Roger

[arash_hazeghi]

95739

I'm of course greatly appreciative of ALL the feedback.

The sun had just risen. This uncropped image was merely auto sharpened after
opening the JPEG image in Camera Raw in CS5. I'm well aware it would behoove
me to investigate Artie's tutorials which I've acquired, but have merely glanced at.
After cropping the image in Camera Raw, I sharpened it at 88 using a radius of 1.0,
Detail 25, Masking 0. Noise Reduction overall was Luminance 79, Lum. Detail 50,
Lum. Contrast 0, Lum. Color 0. After resizing, I sharpened the image slightly and
used the Lasso Tool to outline the bird from the background with the latter having
noise reduced with the Filter option at a strength of 3, preserving details at 25%,
reducing color noise at 45%, and sharpening details at 25%.

Arash, you have not been keeping up with Artie's blog. See his thoughts here . . .
http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2011/06/17/my-comments-on-your-commentsimage-1/
Read the paragraph with his second "smiley" in particular.

In a review of the steps I followed I just noticed the "remove JPEG artifact" check box.
Humm . . .

I don't know why, but I have run into the "muddy" effect in detail even at much closer range.
Any and all additional thoughts are very welcome.

Bob, from the original your image was OOF (focus appears way in front of the bird?) and applying massive NR has destroyed the details. Do not apply luminance NR to your images using Lightroom as it destroys the details.

I am also confused about your comments about Artie's blog, I do agree with Artie that there are no rules for art. But if you are suggesting that you made this image on purpose I must say it doesn't work IMO as a photograph because of the technical problems. However if you like it the way it is as digital art that resembles a painting it is fine, perhaps posting in digital forum will give you better feedback from an artistic point of view:)