Here is a little duck from yesterday. New lens and not happy with IQ, but with Diane's help , I think this image might be a keeper for a bit longer.
I feel it's a little soft still but a vast improvement on what I had been trying to do which was sharpen the bejesus out of it.
In ACR - no adjustments except for NR - A question for Diane. In ACR - under the sharpening panel - Noise Reduction - Is there an ideal for Luminance and Luminance Detail? LD seems to jump when the Luminance is set. Luminance contrast, colour and detail I have left as the default.
In PS, a levels and saturation layers. A bit of burning on the FG. Cropped. Image resized for web and selectively smart sharpened at 50 with a radius of .5 - Remove lens blur
Canon 5D Mark II
150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sport
Focal Length - 600mm
Manual 1/200 @ f6.3
ISO 500
Spot metering
Monopod
Nice shot of a very interesting bird, with good eye contact! It looks sharp as presented here, although 1/200 sec is very thin ice, even with OS. I'd consider cropping just a little off the top, both to center the bird more and to get rid of the darkest area up there, which is a bit of a distraction.
You might try a bit more of Highlights down and Shadows up, and a little Clarity if it starts to look flat. Clarity can lower saturation so a bit of Vibrance is often the next move. I've never seen an image that didn't benefit from adjustments in ACR.
You should only rarely need to do Levels and Sat in PS -- ACR will do the equivalents. Nothing wrong with seeing you need a tweak after you get into PS and make a few adjustments, but the bulk should be done in ACR. It's capabilities for pulling out detail in shadows and highlights is amazing. (But like anything it can be overdone.)
I almost never mess with the sharpening or noise reduction sliders; I get better results leaving them at the defaults. I can get better results after I'm in PS with Nik's Dfine for noise and occasionally I'll try their Sharpener, just experimenting with settings. I'm just not very enthusiastic about what can be achieved with so-called sharpening, outside of what you did for the JPEG.
As to noise reduction, some people feel Canon's DPP software does better than ACR/LR. I disagree strongly. Looking at an image at 100% I see that it accomplishes this feat by softening the image in the same way I can with the noise reduction sliders in ACR/LR, and in the same way the in-camera JPEG settings will do. That's fine for people who are happy with it. I'm not. I can do better with Nik, and occasionally with the Neat Image plug-in. It can work with very busy images where Nik can't find the areas it looks for to optimize NR.
Thank you Warren. Feather position is typical for this species. They are mostly seen out west, but occasionally you'll see them closer to built up areas.
Thank you Diane. I'm going to have another crack at this image with the suggestions you mentioned. I was just so thrilled to get something out of it without much to do.
As soon as I typed in SS 1/200 sec I knew I had stuffed this up. Rule of thumb about focal length and SS! A lesson well learnt for next time.
Thank you for checking this out. I did know about the USB Dock. I figured it was another piece of gear that I didn't really need (or want). But on having another look at it, the dock is not too expensive, so I think I'll order one. As I have said before, the technical stuff does my head in. A lot of customisation settings that could go wrong for me.
There are undoubtedly tutorials and info online -- or start a thread in Photography Gear -- I know nothing about the Sigma docks but any adjustment that improves the image is well worth it.
I'm trying to get out early tomorrow with this lens and see how I go. I feel I was a bit overwhelmed the first time and managed to muck a whole lot of things up. I will certainly go ahead and purchase the "dock" but I will also pay more attention to what I am doing. When I go out shooting with my non-photographic husband I feel a bit pressured for time. He feels he is keeping me safe. (Bless his little cotton socks.) Tomorrow, just me and the new lens!
This stuff is all on a learning curve, and some of us are lucky enough to be able to figure that out. Some just muddle through, thinking everything is fine. So you're making valuable progress already!
I also prefer to shoot alone -- the good light always comes at what mine considers feeding time.
Lovlery! Thanks for the link. This one is just what I was looking for. You did a great job with the exposure and sharpness. And I love all those splayed feathers! a
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