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Thread: Golden Eagle

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    Default Golden Eagle

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    Hi All,
    This is my first post here. Up until now I’ve been only a reader, just enjoying your great work.
    I was provoked to post this image by some friends who when seeing the original said it needs more processing. I am not that good post processing and I did not know where to start. This is what the image after processing.
    What I have done is levels adjustment, high pass sharpening and unsharp mask in Capture NX because the eagle was a bit out of focus. Then I made local adjustments of brightness, contrast and saturation and then cropped a bit for composition.
    What I wonder is whether the image looks overprocessed. I will post the original if needed.
    All advices and comments are most welcome and appreciated.

    These are the equipment details and settings:
    Camera: Nikon D3
    Lens: Nikon 300 mm, f/2.8G VRII + 1.7x TC
    Focal Length 500 mm, f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO 400, Manual exposure.

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    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    Very nice and the PP looks very good to me, others may find the details a bit soft but the intensity of the pose and the light is very nice.
    Dan Kearl

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    Your processing looks excellent to me. as does your photography! Beautiful gold-brown-blue colors, a killer pose and very sharp.

    One issue some people may have with it is that it doesn't have an embedded profile, which can give incorrect colors on some combinations of browsers and monitors. (I have a tutorial on the issue in the Educational Resources forum here.)

    The only minor suggestion I would have would be to use a partial-opacity cloning brush to soften the dark object near the bottom edge. I would also remove the white object near the bottom and the small dark one between the tail and the bit of in-focus grass. I don't know if cloning is within your ethics, but many suggestions are made here of minor touches such as that.

    I hope we'll see more of your images here!!

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    BPN Member Robert Kimbrell's Avatar
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    Welcome Kalin, That's a powerful first post, I love the framing of the shot, I agree the processing looks good. If it were mine I might brighten the eye a little. In retrospect You could have pushed the ISO on the D3 a little more, and got a little higher shutter speed. The background is gorgeous here. keep posting.
    Robert Kimbrell



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    Thank you all for the great tips and advices! I will check the tutorial about the embedded profile which Diane suggested. I did not know about that thing.
    Regarding cloning out or adding canvas - I am not much into that thing but really appreciate the advice. It will help me with composition for other images.
    Thanks again!

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    I agree with the others, Kalin. Great photo! You've set the bar high for your first post! I look forward to your second!


    Mike

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    Thank you very much for the kind words Mike!! I will try but I still gave a lot to learn. You can be sure that I have thousands of bad photos for this one :)

    Kalin

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    BPN Member Don Lacy's Avatar
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    Kalin, Wonderful image I just love the pose and this is subject we dont see many images of. The processing is pretty nice I only have two suggestions, one is to lower the brightness on the top of the neck and I think the sharpening is just a little off. If you would post a unsharpened image I would like to see what I could do with it.
    Don Lacy
    You don't take a photograph, you make it - Ansel Adams
    There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs - Ansel Adams
    http://www.witnessnature.net/
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    Hi Don, thanks a lot! Do you need a RAW file or a TIFF will be OK? I can upload it in some file transfer website.

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    BPN Member Don Lacy's Avatar
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    I can start from the Raw or the Tiff does not matter
    Don Lacy
    You don't take a photograph, you make it - Ansel Adams
    There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs - Ansel Adams
    http://www.witnessnature.net/
    https://500px.com/lacy

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    Hi Don,
    here is the RAW file. I removed the sharpening from it but kept all other processing. If you work with Capture NX you will be able to see it.
    I will appreciate all advice and ideas.
    Thanks, Kalin

    Files (23.8 MB total)
    KIB_5524_no_sharp.nef
    Will be deleted on
    2 October, 2015
    Download link
    http://we.tl/7GtN0IKoQR

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    BPN Member Don Lacy's Avatar
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    Hi Kalin, I played around with the image in ACR and PS but there is not much more you can do with it the original capture is just to soft you cannot sharpen detail that does not exist. Sorry this is so close to being an outstanding capture. Not sure if the camera did not acquire focus or if the shutter speed is to low at 800s, my guess considering the Eagle and BG are the same colors would be on the AF.
    Don Lacy
    You don't take a photograph, you make it - Ansel Adams
    There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs - Ansel Adams
    http://www.witnessnature.net/
    https://500px.com/lacy

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    Hi Don, I agree that the image is too soft. I don't know if higher speed would have been better because the bird is quite dark and the BG is light. The action at the site was too fast and may be I did not have enough time to focus correctly. I have several more images with sharp focus but I eather don't quite like the pose or the background. I will post one in a different thread. I will be happy to hear your thoughts.
    Thanks a lot everyone!

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