Crissal Thrasher

[WillieHall]

Just returned from amazing 10 days in NM and AZ. Starting to sort, process and crop photos. One of my first, this was only cropped about 15%, but always learning about placement of bird in space and how large should it be, etc. I did erase a couple distracting branches. Canon 7D, 100-400 L lens, 400mm, ISO 640, 1/2500, f/7.1 AP with monopod. Comments encouraged....thanks

[Carolyn Arnesen]

Willie, Interesting bird. I like the 'determined' look, pose and the blue sky. I might take some off the top.

[Diane Miller]

Nice pose and expression, and it looks sharp. I'm in agreement with Carolyn about the top and/or I'd add a little more on the right and bottom. The sky seems vivid (dark and saturated) and noisy -- did you bring up an underexposure? That will bring out noise with any body and especially with a 7D, I'm told.

I would drken the branch (lights) a little and lighten the darks. What is your processing? A RAW file? (Sorry, I can't ever remember what anyone is using.)

[WillieHall]

I was traveling and did not have the time or processing in my wifes laptop so just shot everything jpeg. What you see is what the camera did, no changes, just crop. Is there anything to do with a jpeg for the issues you raised?

[Randall Farhy]

Hi Willie- Agree with Diane's comments. You can rework a Jpeg, you just won't get the subtle transitions a RAW will give you, the color/tonal adjustments won't have as wide of a range and artifacts will appear sooner.

Opened in LR5, WB adjustment -7Y +5R, Exposure +12, shadows +24, blacks +2. HSL Reduced blue channel saturation, bumped Red/Orange Luminance by +4 each.
Applied a local brush to the sky and drastically increased NR, lowered saturation by 5. Local brush on Bird/branch for sharps another on eye to increase contrast. Output sharpened High.

Edit: Went back and toned down branch, -43 Highlight brush.

[WillieHall]

Now that is a lesson in what can be done to a photo, Randall. Thanks so much, I have a lot to learn about post processing. Amazing the detail that was enhanced with your adjustments.

[Iain Barker]

Well done Willie on this nice capture. With Randall's adjustments this is a great Image.

Iain

[Randall Farhy]

Willie, YW-glad you like it. Iain is right-the image is a good one to begin with!

What I've done really is basic PP, it just takes practice to become comfortable with it. The folks here at BPN all have valuable insights which make learning the do's and don't a lot easier. Keep'em coming!

[Diane Miller]

Excellent work by Randall! Processing is SO valuable, and well worth learning. It ain't rocket science.

Why limit yourself to JPEG just because you can't process while traveling? Shoot JPEG + RAW and process the RAW files when you're home.