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Yellow Warbler
My first post on Eager to Learn.
Canon 7dii
Canon 100-400 Is II
f5.6
1/800
ISO 800
Lightroom and PC cc. 
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A well-named bird! I like the composition. That's a camera and lens combination I've been using (and enjoying) a lot, for its hand-holdability. But it has limitations.
What was you focal length here? Handheld? Cropped??
ISO 800 is as high as I want to go with this rig, and that's marginal but often unavoidable. This looks like there is some loss of resolving power but at least you got the shot -- maybe not so easy. The silver perch isn't the most desirable, but probably not a lot you could do to avoid it. It would be nice, but a lot of work, to clone out the two vertical branches behind the bird.
It looks a bit grainy -- was exposure brought up? A NR program might help -- some hardly even need to be masked to the BG anymore.
A little more information??
PS -- I'd love to see one of these birds! Keep posting!
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Thank you Diane
this shot was hand held and its cropped, I am posting the original for comparison. Taken at focal length of 400 mm. 
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this one was one of those classic decisions where it probably wasn't the best choice IQ wise but it was the pose I liked best.Which NR programs are you referring I have Define from NIK but really haven't gotten around to using it. Im still warming up to PS cc.
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A cute bird in a nice setting -- although there is some distracting detail around it. I think it's worth a re-process, holding it a little lighter and less contrasty. I'd especially hold down the whites. You held nice detail in the yellows -- not always easy. You have some good leeway in LR with tonalities.
I like Nik Dfine -- used at its simple default -- just let it do its thing -- is often a very nice result. It will make a separate layer that you can mask if needed, but rarely necessary. It can reduce noise in smooth areas (OOF BG), often with very little impact on feather detail. I use it on almost every image. There is a fine balance between NR and sharpening, but NR can be a valuable help for an image. Any desired sharpening is usually best done on a JPEG after resizing to post rather than on the master file.
If it were me, I'd include a little more of the environment, since a big crop is never ideal for detail. That camera and lens can do well with the 1.4X II -- more glass is usually better than cropping. Getting closer is best of all, but also hardest.
Would love to see a RP!
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Thank you again . I considered putting on the extended but being as it was a cloudy day I was afraid of getting the SS I needed at f8 ? Walking around and shooting thru leaves on days like this.
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RP is a re-post -- a second try at processing the image. Apologies -- I tyy to avoid the shortcut slang here in ETL but I get in a hurry sometimes. (OK -- I'm always in a hurry...)
I'd love to see this run through the mill again! That's the way to learn!
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Nice adjustments from the original post, love the colors on the bird. Would love to see one of these some day!
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Thank you Diane, I tossed the coin on the crop, and since in initial post was aligned to the left, I figured I would centre given the branch in front. I should have seen that my histogram was to the dark side.I should have picked a sharper imagine to begin with. I am still working on a workflow with a Lightroom start then going to PS CC. The challenge I find is that where every shot is different its a challenge. My most common flow would be, Crop, WB, Black point, White point, Exposure, Highlight, Shadows, Clarity 10 is, Vibrance 15 is,Sharpen 40,Radius 1.4, detail and masking 40.NR 20 ish, lens correction. Off to PS separate BG, and subject, adjust with curves, saturation /hue. Smart sharpen or Unsharp Mask ( I'm still going back and forth) luminosity blend then an overlay layer to dodge and burn. Of course any given shot can vary the process. Any thoughts , or suggestions.??
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Thank you Warren,
while sometimes tough to shoot, these warblers are fairly common here during spring and summer, I enjoy the colors as well.We also have a Wilsons Warbler thats yellow.
Originally Posted by
Warren Spreng
Nice adjustments from the original post, love the colors on the bird. Would love to see one of these some day!
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I second Warren's wish!! The only yellow birds I get are Lesser Goldfinches.
Every image is so different that I don’t use a standardized workflow. I generally work top down with the adjustment sliders, but will address the most egregious issues first.
WB is a good place to start. The default Adobe Standard is usually good but can be less than ideal with some images. Reds and yellows can seriously lose detail in some images. In that case I’ll go down to the bottom panel and compare the camera profiles for Camera Standard, Camera Faithful and Camera Neutral. (The others are horrible for any camera I’ve ever had.) You may need to tweak colors back in the image.
I don’t do black or white points until I’ve done the shadows and highlights sliders, balanced with exposure. Watching the histogram is key for adjustments.
I almost never touch saturation or contrast; they are blunt instruments. The HSL section is wonderful for work on individual colors, and so easy to use.
I’d only do clarity if necessary, and carefully. Then Vibrance can be a good follow-up, as it will lose some color. Compare going to the Curves section and doing a medium contrast curve. That may necessitate backing off the tonal sliders a little.
I almost always leave sharpening at the default 25. Once in a while you can squeak it up a little, but it sharpens noise. too. Sharpening can introduce artifacts and I prefer to save it for the output JPEG. Sometimes a careful move of the Luminance NR slider can help with noise. View at 1:1 to see the damage. Sharpening in PS is even more problematic for artifact creation. At least in LR you are sharpening the L channel in LAB mode, which somewhat minimizes damage. Softness and noise are best dealt with at capture, by avoiding them as much as possible.
I like Smart Sharpen with the Lens Blur Option. Gaussian Blur is said to be the same as USM.
Nik Dfine is a wonderful NR tool, rarely needing any masking of the subject. It makes a new layer and it’s easy to add a mask to it if needed.
Cropping is best saved till last, except for removing obvious problem areas. The most flexible thing is to wait till the image comes back into LR from PS and crop it non-destructively there. An exported image will have that crop applied. It’s really frustrating to decide you cropped too much and have to redo the image. You can have it several ways by doing virtual copies.
I’ll always be conservative with tonalities in the raw converter. When an image is opened in PS the tonalities are cast in concrete and you have very little leeway to lower contrast or bring out detail in very dark and light areas. But I can always increase contrast with Curves. Nik Color Efex’s Detail Extractor, Pro Contrast and Tonal Contrast can be very nice tools if used carefully.
Did I leave anything out?? 
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Thank you Diane , that is a ton of help and it makes much more sense.
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BPN Member
Hi Fred! I'm a bit late to the party here, but, first, I totally LOVE the "down the barrel" look from the Warbler.... unique and effective. Second, your clean-up of the branches works very well. The OP yellows/oranges seemed a bit oversaturated... they look much better in the RP's. We periodically have these pretty birds stop by here... but it's really difficult to get a decent photo. I don't a lot of PP lately (mostly because I usually "overthink" it). My only suggestion would be to keep the bird as small in the frame as possible, (due to the crop/IQ). The Lichen on the branch add a nice dimension. I do like Diane's adjustments.
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Thank you Sandy, my fear is also that PS will have me over working the shot. Its funny, the first attempt, I believe I was more focused on posting to BPN then the actual editing. My second attempt was more the technique I would use and I often edit and come back, over saturation is one edit I seem to commonly tune down when I come back. I have to admit tho I do like PS to separate the BG from subject, to Dodge and Burn with an Overlay layer Curves . But its all pretty new to me. And Im not the sharpest knife in drawer when it come to the how tos of PS cc.
Originally Posted by
Sandy Witvoet
Hi Fred! I'm a bit late to the party here, but, first, I totally LOVE the "down the barrel" look from the Warbler.... unique and effective. Second, your clean-up of the branches works very well. The OP yellows/oranges seemed a bit oversaturated... they look much better in the RP's. We periodically have these pretty birds stop by here... but it's really difficult to get a decent photo. I don't a lot of PP lately (mostly because I usually "overthink" it). My only suggestion would be to keep the bird as small in the frame as possible, (due to the crop/IQ). The Lichen on the branch add a nice dimension. I do like Diane's adjustments.
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Overworking (or under) isn't the fault of PS or the raw converter -- just of experience. Keep at it and it will become second nature. (Did you learn to ride a bike or swim the first time you tried?) The tools in both are really wonderful. It helps tp make a folder or collection of favorite images and compare them often -- you'll soon begin to home in on the best processing. I often find an image had some major flaw, and when I look at it another day, after looking at other images, then I can see it.
Keep trying and keep posting!
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BPN Member
Okay. I copied Diane's process post and pasted it into a note. I like it a lot.
Welcome, Fred. A beautiful first post. I especially enjoy the bird's aspect and expect to hear, "Who you lookin' at?" Anyway. I like the idea of using the 1.4X TC that someone mentioned, as I think this shot is worth the better IQ that would result from a not so big crop.
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BPN Member
Diane,
Please share your thoughts about the use of the 7D II and 100-400mm vII. I have the camera and am seriously thinking about that lens.
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I (and quite a few other people here) love the lens and that combo! I'm a pixel peeper and I have the 600 II and, heresy though it may be, that little lens at 400 is amazingly close in IQ. I think it's almost sharper than my 300 f/2.8 IS with the 1.4X III. With the crop factor of the 7D2 it's a wonderful and versatile lens, and it does very well with the 1.4X on a still subject, although you are limited to center point AF. And it's usable for birds in flight if you're careful. With the 1.4X it's also a great 560 macro (896 if you add in the crop factor). Not too shabby. And hand-holdable if you have the light. A few weeks ago I was shooting frame-filling osprey with it with the 1.4X and then found a dragonfly and shot it, filling the frame -- only had to change the focus limit switch. That sort of versatility is due to the close-focus distance of 3 ft.
It's now my carry-around lens. My 70-200 is feeling very neglected unless I really need f/2.8.
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BPN Member
Thank you. Thank you. I had borrowed the lens from Canon for a week, and that was my reaction exactly. I had heard good things and they were confirmed in the field for me. Now to save the money.
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