Eastern Kingbird -- at last

[Linda Dulak]

Since I started bird photography, I've wanted to get a good image of an Easterm kingbird. These guys are fast. They land, usually on a fence railing or a wire, rarely in a tree or on a branch. And they don't sit for a long time either. It's been my nemesis bird!

This morning I was out early trying to get images of the various birds that land on the branches of our weeping cherry trees. Many different birds land on a couple of branches. I was amazed that a kingbird landed on the branch I was focused on and stayed for all of a second! I managed to get 4 images before he flew again. This is one of them.

I did have some difficulty processing this image, though. When I went to use Smartsharpen in PS5 it immediately produced a halo around the head. Lowering the radius did little to eliminate the halo. Unsharp mask worked better and allowed a small amount of sharpening without giving a halo. Does anyone have an explanation for this result?

D7000, Sigma 300-800 @800, ISO 640, 1/800, f 7.1, EC +1
PP limited to cropping, levels and Unsharp mask

[Randy Stout]

Linda:

They are active little guys, and I only have a few good photos of them.

Nice pose and exposure.

I don't have a specific explanation for why this particular image sharpened the way it did. I do think the base image appears pretty soft on my monitor.

I ran my usual mix of sharpening with Photokit Pixel Genius sharpening. I have def.overdone the amounts so it would show on the web. I do think you should be able to get more out of this, working on the raw.

Hopefully someone can give you a specific explanation on why you are getting halos.

I never sharpen the entire image, just the subject, and I always mask carefully to avoid halos.

Cheers

Randy

[rajojomanik]

Congrats Linda on finaling getting a Kingbird.

Just like Randy I only sharpen the subject.
1. quick select the subject
2. Go to Select
3. Refine Edge option
4. use the slider Contract/Expand to the left(negative), your selection will be inside the subject and for me this help prevents halos
5. Apply and sharpen

I hope that helps.

Ramon

[Daniel Cadieux]

Congratualtions on photographing your nemesis bird!! Now you get to place a new species at the top of your "nemesis" bird list:S3:

I don't know the reason behind it, but sharpening halos happen alot if you are not creful sharpening a bird against a plain blue sky background...especially a dark bird, and especially along hard edges. I can't really comment on Smartsharpen as I only use USM, but yeah, Ramon's way is one way of helping with that. I usually have a completed but unsharpened and un-NR'd version that when I sharpen I can use the History brush on to paint away what I don't want sharpened, including halos if needed.

[Marina Scarr]

Congrats on capturing the Kingbird. You have good exposure and a nice pose. It does look soft and to my eyes Randy's repost looks over sharpened.

[Linda Dulak]

Thanks everyone. I see that I need to learn how to select and sharpen only the bird. Thanks Ramon for giving me the steps. I'll give it a try.

Linda