Another Long-billed Curlew

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Sony A900~Sony 500 F4 G~Sony 1.4x~ISO 400~F/7.1~1/1000 sec~overcast~manual exposure~hand-held~Texas City Dike~2-4-2013-CS6 /ACR
I found another long-billed curlew at the dike again a few days ago; the light was a bit better than last time. I did the usual stuff in ACR, and increased saturation and contrast (curves) in CS6, as suggested with my last GBH image by Jeannine. comments and critique welcomed. regards~Bill
note; I've been posting here at BPN a while now and I don't think I'll ever not be "eager to learn"

[Jeannean Ryman]

What a nice shot of the curlew Bill! Love the dynamic movement in it and the complimentary tones. Nice job on the low angle as well! It looks just a tad oversharpened in areas (most noticeably on the back), so might consider sharpening on a layer mask, and then adjusting with the opacity/and or luminosity with a brush as needed. Lovely capture! (and I agree with your "eager to learn" comment :)

[John Chardine]

Exactly Bill. Everyone should be Eager to Learn! If they are not they might as well quit and try something else.

Super bird, nice warm light. Nice complementary background. For me there is too much micro-contrast or sharpening going on here. I know we have has this discussion before but could you report the sharpening method and numbers for this image.

[Clyde Hopper]

Hi Bill , as stated above ,Lovely photograph here ,and well worth the additional effort . I too would like to know what the "Threshold " numbers were on your sharpening .

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Thanks for the observations. About the sharpening; I think the increase of contrast + sharpening caused what was percieved as oversharpening. John, I remember well our sharpening discussion, and again I used an action (I have way too many images to not do some automation). The action was based on your suggestions on a previous image; smart sharpen; amt 80%/ radius .3px/lens blur, and I guess I should have done the process manually, or as I often do is use the action, then use fade last command some percent.regards~Bill
Included the image resampled with no sharpening.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

William,

Lovely photo and I might suggest a sharpening in between the two posts. Nothing wrong with your techniques but I will say sharpening is an Art IMO automation is ok, but use caution there. Artie often sharpens an image three times (Art of Bird Photography & Digital Basics) so I might suggest a manual process from time to time to baseline the faster methods. Anyway, I am impressed that you have a solid workflow,..the pic is a bit warm for me,..but thats me. Love the inclusion of grass and beach - thanks for posting and I always enjoy viewing your work - keep em coming.

[John Chardine]

Hi Bill- Here's 80%/0.3 Lens blur. It doesn't look as sharpened as yours. I wonder if your action is doing what you think it's doing?

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi John, maybe the resampling method (sharpen and resample in the action). I'll have to do a bit of research. Your re-post has more of a reddish cast, and I'm wondering if I'm imagining it. BTW, I'm using windows based system, not that it makes a difference?

[John Chardine]

Yes Bill, it is redder. All I did was copy, paste, sharpen and save (for web and devices). It shows you what sort of colour shifts can happen when you do nothing!

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely subject and I like the environment. John's sharpening looks nice. While I love warm light, the reds in this image look very overpowering. I took it into PS and did a color balance layer reducing the reds and adding cyan. The image still looks warm but much more natural.

[John Chardine]

Your image is not coming up Marina.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Hi John and Marina. First John; I fiqured out what happened. I did use smart sharpen as described, and it worked as we both expected. However, as explained in the OP, I also increased the contrast using curves. Marina; it was John that messed up the color balance! How many times can you blame someone else? Not too often, like once in 4 years.
I think its pretty funny! Seriously, Marina, did you notice the reddish cast with the OP? regards~Bill

[John Chardine]

The image is very warm and could be adjusted to taste. I did make it worse in the repost (sorry!) although I'm not sure what part of the workflow accomplished this as I did not adjust colour at all.

Here's a more neutral version done in L.A.B. colour with some desaturation. I used the legs as a neutral starting point but tried to maintain some warmth. Same sharpening as before.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Thank you very much John! Looks good, and I appreciate you spending the time. I'll do some study upon your technique, and Im sure it will prove useful. regards~Bill