Western Wood Pewee

[Asta Tobiassen]

This was taken in Eastern WA, near the town of Yakima. I was in search of the White Headed Woodpecker. I never found that bird, but I did get to watch this very hard working Wood Pewee trying to keep her babies sated.
7D, 100-400L, 1/800, 7.1, 1250. This was a fairly significant crop. Noise reduction with Noise Ninja. Selectively sharpened the birds.
I am always struggling between noise reduction and getting the image sharp enough. I use Lightroom for all of my editing. Considering Photoshop...

99179

[Ken Janes]

Great shot and the focus is perfect.I have had auto-focusing problems with my 7D. Have you had any problems?

[Sid Garige]

Asta,

Very nice image. Like the composition and subject placement.

Regarding details and noise reduction, doing noise reduction on the birds kind of destroys the fine feather details. Selective noise reduction is a good practice in general. Photoshop is helpful in doing selective work with layers and layer mask etc.. Not familiar with light room but here is a program you can try out that can provide layers support to light room.
http://www.ononesoftware.com/products/suite/perfect-layers/?ind
take a look if you get some time.

Also, to maximize attention to the subject and make this image much stronger, I would go for a little tighter crop if possible. Some thing similar to this.

[Asta Tobiassen]

Thank you Ken. I have not had trouble with the autofocus on my 7d, but have plenty of shots that are not as sharp as I want. So, back to the noise reduction issue, if I need to apply noise reduction then the sharpness really suffers. One theory I recently came across was that with the large number of pixels, yet relatively small size of pixels, the 7d becomes very sensitive to any motion. So, I try to use my tripod at all times and keep the shutter speed up. I am constantly reading and adjusting my technique, but I have a long way to go based on the stunning pictures I see on this site all the time.

[Asta Tobiassen]

Thank you for the suggestion on the vertical crop, Sid. I really do like that. I am not sure that the IQ will hold, but agree that the picture is much stronger on your repost.

Thank you also for the link to Perfect Layers. I have contacted the software company to see if it is possible to do selective noise reduction using that program. If so, that could save me a significant chunk of change!

[John Chardine]

Hi Asta- I don't own a 7D but have used one and good friends have the body. With the relatively small pixels on the 7D, they are relatively noisy and you need to be conscious of this when setting your exposure. In this image it looks like you have lots of light yet you used ISO 1250. ISO 800 or even 400 would have worked and produced less noise to deal with. If you shoot RAW, the other noise-reducing tactic is to expose to the right, thus getting the best signal to noise ratio in your image. Noise will also be more apparent if you zoom in to an image with a significant crop like you say you have here. Agree with Sid on the selective NR. The detail in a bird's feathers tends to hide noise anyway and where you want to get rid of it is in smooth backgrounds, where it is much more apparent. I like Sid's recrop, although I may have added a bit more room on the right in the direction of the bird's gaze.

[carole wiley]

Hi Asta
I like your capture, nice and sharp and I like the positioning of the little ones. You did a great job of getting them with identical head angles and open beaks. Good catch light in the eye and a nice blurred background. I like the soft green mosses on the perch. I do like the repost, making the birds more prominent and selective NR is definately the way to go.

[Svante Larsson]

A very pleasing image of the hardships of parenthood I think :S3:. Otherwise agree with the comments above and also feel that Sids composition iimproves the image.

[Asta Tobiassen]

99221
Here is the vertical crop. I did not do any noise reduction on this one. The high iso was not intentional. I forgot to change it after photographing a Western Tanager in the shade.

[annmpacheco]

very nice image you captured and I agree with above. I like the vertical crop as well. TFS

[Kerry Perkins]

Nice capture Asta and really good advice by Sid. I agree that the negative space on the left was not adding to the image. This is a great capture of the little pewee family. Nice job on your repost. Look forward to more.