Species Common Name- Superb Fairy Wren Scientific Name- Malurus Cyaneus
Date- 14/02/2016 Location- The Entrance, NSW,AU Camera Details Brand/Model- Canon 7D Mkii Lens- Canon 100-400 Mkii @ 400 Camera Settings ISO- 200 F-Stop- 5.6 Shutter Speed- 250 Exposure Bias/Metering/Flash- 0/EV/+1/3(still experimenting with use of fill flash) Technique- Hand Held Attraction Aides- None Post Production- DPP - Sharpness +3, Lum. Noise +1, Chrom. Noise +2, Lense Optimiser 50, Per. Illum. 70(I think these are minimal standard settings in DPP for the 7D Mkii). Crop and export to PS. PS - Nothing except resize for web. Very new to PS so still experimenting. Notes- Looking for any C&C and assistance on all aspects of the image - especially in capture. Should I try and get in closer - use an extender perhaps?
Hello Krish and welcome! I'm sorry, I just didn't see your post before.
From the very little I know about this wonderful craft, I can see you have some good gear here to get some great images...also I think an extender would work well. You have done extremely well to get that close to a twitchy little guy like that. His cap and cheek parts and wing feathers look a bit hot, I would say from the flash. You maybe able to tame them a bit in DPP, but I am unfamiliar with that. I know nothing of the use of flash either, so I am not much help.
This is a pretty big crop (and thank you for positing the crop image) but, in my opinion, you could have given the little bird a lot more space...especially in front and on top. The less you crop, the better the IQ. There seems to be a very faint OOF piece of reed running through his beak and breast. But that's not a big deal for me. I love his little talons. The BG is busy, but the bird is well separated.
Glennie summed it up well. This much crop will rarely give a good image, but things seem to be going on here beyond that. (You have a great body and lens that should give you a good image to work with.) It should be possible to bring out more detail in the whites and there is a cyan cast on the head and below the black throat area and on the edge of the tail.
I would move the crop to minimize the detailed foliage in the lower left and clone out what I couldn't exclude.
It looks like you focus fell on the right foot and possibly the head and body were a little soft and over-sharpened.
Definitely get closer, and use the 1.4X when needed -- it is wonderful on that lens.
Thanks for the comments. Highly appreciated.
Will definitely try to "get in closer" to reduce cropping.
As for the focus, the focus point indicates it is on the breast. No deliberate sharpening, except for what seems to be default from DPP and "Save for Web" from PSCC. Could there be an issue with lens or camera? They are both only a couple of months old, no micro adjustment.
What could probably cause the cyan issue, with no deliberate PP?
Thanks again.
Krish, "getting closer" seems to be the bain of us all! It's easier said than done.
Try to focus on the birds eye. Not easy on a bird this size! As for the sharpening, I am clueless. Maybe have a look at your camera settings and make sure it isn't dialed in for excess "in camera" sharpness. I know a lot can go wrong from the wrong settings being dialed in.
I think I can safely say, there is no cyan cast on the bird. I believe, Diane may not be familiar with the birds colour. He should be blue on top etc. Just the flash? has blown out the colour. Are you able to recover those in LR?
I think this frame has the potential to look a lot better than the one posted.
I don't know the bird so was only assuming the top of the head should be white. But the cyan coloration in those three places does seem strange. I don't get good results with DPP so can't give any advice on processing with it. You might open the image in PS, where it will open with Adobe Camera Raw and see if you have the same coloration. Use the histogram for hints for the best slider settings. No need to adjust parameters for different camera models. If you have excessive noise or it isn't sharp, the only good remedy is to avoid them in capture.
Glennie, thanks for clearing up the cyan concern. I also think it is the colour of the feathers during the change of plumage.
Dianne, I see the same when opening with LR and I have a few frames that are the same.
I have another frame that is better. Don't how I missed it before. I will post that, when I can. It will still be a big crop but should be better in detail.
Superb Fairy Wren - erratic little fellas
