Fly-By

[Adhika Lie]

Still going through the falcon backlog, slowly... This is an in-flight shot that I thought was decent. I am generally still struggling with BIF and my experience with the falcon was especially hard with California's June gloom. Pretty much just Lightroom work on this one with Nik Dfine and Output sharpening after exporting. Exposure -0.41, Highlights -36, Shadows +41, Whites and Blacks to add back contrast. Did a little bit of clarity brush (+14) on the bird. Shot at 550mm, f/6.3, 1/2000, ISO3200. I think I might have been pushing it with this ISO and the D750. Cropped for composition, 24MP -> 18MP total. I have another one that has the bird calling but seems like 1/2000 is too slow to freeze the action. As always, looking forward to your feedback.

[arash_hazeghi]

Very nice Adhika, I like the pose and the BG showing the topside details. I would sharpen the falcon just a bit more. 1/2000 sec is a bit on the slow side when shooting the falcons, for best results use 1/3200sec or faster where possible.

[Arthur Morris]

Lovely dorsal view and a very nice BKGR. You might try sharpening the face or even the whole bird selectively with a Contrast Mask: Unsharp Mask at 15/65/0.

[Adhika Lie]

Arash & Artie, thanks for the suggestion. I am gonna try the Unsharp Mask. Artie, have you ever had a blog post that covers how much sharpening is enough sharpening?

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. Sharpening for what???

a

[Adhika Lie]

On this bird, for example. I have already applied some sharpening on the bird but based on Arash's & your suggestions, it seems like I can still apply more. I think I can spot too much sharpening (as in the extreme) easily but I am finding that sweet spot hard to achieve.

[Tim Foltz]

Adhika, nice sharp image and sweet BG, my only suggestion would be to have the subject not so centered in the frame with more space in front of the raptor as to show direction.

-Tim

[Arthur Morris]

Understand that you should never sharpen any master file until it is sized for final usage. Your unsharpened master TIFF file should be save intact without sharpening. For my blog and BPN JPEGs I sharpen them with Unsharp at 110/.3/0 You need to use lots more sharpening for larger prints. Or for billboards.

I do use Contrast Masks on about 75% of my bird photographs to selectively sharpen the face and/or the eyes. Unsharp mask at 15/63/0 does a nice job on the selection you have made. You can learn it all in my Digital Basics File. To save $5 call Jim on Monday or any weekday at 863-692-0906 and ask for the $5 BPN discount on Digital Basics.

a

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent observation by Tim re. too centered subject, I totally missed that

Adhika, can you post a 100% crop from RAW? My guess is that this file wasn't full tack-sharp in camera but because the bird was quite large in the frame the small size is still acceptable.

When the RAW file isn't quite sharp, if the bird is large in the frame it might be possible to make an acceptable output at smaller size. Use a small radius and amount = 100 in PS CC (smart sharpen). If you are interested check out the Post Processing Guide that Artie and I put together, it covers NR and sharpening.

However the best approach is to get the file as sharp as possible in camera.


best
Arash

[Glennie Passier]

A great shot Adhika! I like it a lot. Interesting threads on the sharpening, and yes, the crop suggestion is a good one.

[Adhika Lie]

A & A - thanks for the very thorough explanation. I also only sharpen output after resize. Good suggestion on the cropping, I will give it a try tonight.

Glennie & Tim - thanks! I am glad you like it!

As per Arash's request. Here is 100% crop screenshot of the NEF file, unsharpened and no NR has been applied. If I see this correctly, it's sharp but the bane of my existence is the high ISO noise. Of course this limits how big I can print this image like Arash has alluded too.

[Glennie Passier]

Adhika, I see what you mean. I have a lot of gull shots just like this. I always look at files at 100% now before I start any work on them. Bane of my life too Adhika.

[Adhika Lie]

Adhika, I see what you mean. I have a lot of gull shots just like this. I always look at files at 100% now before I start any work on them. Bane of my life too Adhika.

For me, I deal with what I have, Glennie. Sometimes, and I think it is the case with this image, it could just be hardware limitation. The overcast sky in May and June in Southern California is somehow inevitable. I see it as a trade off between not getting the shot or a rather noisy one. Until I have a better equipment, I will keep what I have and replace it when I get a better one. I think that's fair enough, right?

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Adhika,

I am not sure if this is a 100% crop. Can you upload the RAW file somewhere

BTW, this isn't quite sharp, it's actually a bit soft but because the bird is large in the frame you cab still get an acceptable output at small size. What lens are you using?

[Adhika Lie]

Arash, it's a 1:1 screenshot from LR, resized to 1200px. How do you usually show 100% crop? Maybe the resizing to 1200 px is what you meant.

Let me retry this. I exported this 100% JPEG from Lightroom and then make a 1200x1000 slice from it. I need to find some space to upload the RAW, maybe tomorrow evening.

It's shot using Tamron 150-600. Obviously from the OP it would've been obvious that the high ISO, slow shutter speed, and wide open aperture don't help sharpness either.

[arash_hazeghi]

Adhika,

when posting a 100% do not resize. You have to crop in LR to 1200 pixels and post the file as is, not a screen shot.

the image in pane 15 is a 100% crop but the image in pane 11 wan't

Now with the 100% crop, we can see the original capture wasn't tack sharp. Ideally you want to get the shot sharp in camera. It is hard to say why this one came out a bit soft, because I am not familiar with the lens you are using. It could be the lens's mediocre optics (in which case you can't do much) or the AF that wasn't perfect, shooting at faster shutter speed (1/3200 sec) also helps.

[Warren Spreng]

What a great BG to complement the colors in the bird! Great DOF, and love the tail spread!

[Adhika Lie]

Arash & Warren, thank you!