Blue Jay
I shot this blue jay on new years day on my new tripod. Canon 7D and 100-400mm. In post I adjusted the exposure and the white balance (somewhere between cloudy and daylight) in LR. No noise reduction. Minor sharpening. No Crop. I wanted your thoughts on this image. I think maybe the bird is too big in the frame.
ISO 400
1/750
f 5.6
@285mm
Thanks,
- Dave
Me, I like birds big in the frame. Then again, I'm weird like that.
What you could do is add some canvas on the right to get him
more out of the center and make him look a little smaller.
Also maybe just a little more canvas on top.
You have a wonderful background so doing either shouldn't be
to much of a problem.
The one thing I'm going back and forth on is that other part
of the perch...if it should be removed or not.
Also, maybe a tad more sharpening on the head? I have a small
monitor so its kinda hard for me to tell. Maybe Diane or somebody
else will chime in on this.
Doug
Doug,
I see what you are saying about the perch. The other part of the perch is a brighter and does draw the eye to it. I could probably tone that down a little. As far as sharpening goes the only sharpening that was done was from when it was converted to Jpeg (what ever the preset is) I didnt apply anything after that. I personally would rather not add to the canvas I will just have to keep in mind the size of the bird in the frame when I get a chance to go out again. The Blue Jays have been around often lately. Thanks for the input.
- Dave
Hi David, you have a cracking little image, although for me, it's a little BIF, but all personal taste. Great detail based on the techs and the original capture I feel has got everything you want, you just need to coax a little move via PP. Not ideal, as this is done quickly on the laptop in the car, but hopefully it may give you a steer? You may however prefer a more subtle BKG as per the OP, but the options are yours.
I would add a Luminosity adjustment to the overall image, say around 50%, add a Curves adjustment in the Midtone to just add a bit more 'pop'. I would open the eye up to, just for a bit more light and detail. Then as Doug mention, add some more USM to the subject only via a mask. Sharpening is oh so personal, as the amounts and route chosen is always whatever you are happy with, i.e. USM or via CC Smart sharpen etc. Sharpening is only applied at the final size of output, so only once you have cropped do you apply sharpening. I agree to, the second stump needs to go.
Nice work, keep it up.
TFS
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
I think Steve made a big improvement here in both tonalities and sharpness. A very nice image to start with, of course!
You don't say what your processing was in RAW conversion. Always best to get things as far as they can go there, then do anything more you need in PS.
Hi David - Very nice image, good pose showing the whole bird. I agree with the above that the stick in front of the perch is a distraction (for me) and I like Steve's repost. I do think the bird, especially the head could use some more sharpening - you say you processed in LR so I'm wondering if you applied any there other than the setting that's used on conversion to jpg. If you wanted to do selective sharpening, it's easily done with the Adjustment brush in LR. I also agree the framing is a little tight and could use some room at right and on top. If this is full frame and you didn't crop, then adding canvas would have to be done in PS or some other editor I suppose.
Very nice!
Kevin
Nice photo David! Blue Jays don't seem sit for long. I think the conversion that Steve did made a difference, the part of the perch needed to go.
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