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Thread: Red-winged Black Bird confronts Northern Mockingbird

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    Default Red-winged Black Bird confronts Northern Mockingbird

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Birds battling at feeder.
    Canon 7D2
    Canon 100-400 v 2 at 200mm
    1/4000,f5.0,ISO 3200
    Aloha,
    Darrell Crisp
    www.darrellcrispphotography.com

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    Good action captured. I find the image a little too tight. Despite I like the RW black bird's back view I'd love to see the eyes. TFS.

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    I appreciate your comments.
    Aloha,
    Darrell Crisp
    www.darrellcrispphotography.com

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    Welcome to the forum. Nice to see lots of new people joining. I love the action you captured here. Excellent interaction between the 2 birds set off by a very nice background. Ideally this interaction would have been better if the birds were parallel to the back of the camera so you could see both their eyes. Also I think ISO 3200 is just too high for the 7d2. Looks like too much noise reduction has been applied and the birds are lacking in fine feather detail. When too much NR is applied the birds get a pastel like look. I had the 7d2 for many years and never took it above ISO 1600. Rarely even took it above ISO 800 as the images were just too noisy.

    In addition I can see what looks like sharpening halos around the blackbird. I guess it could be also just some dodging where you were not careful with your edges. In either case I would advise the following. Always select only the bird when sharpening and do not sharpen the whole image. Same goes for when dodging. Select the birds and save your selection. Then open a duplicate layer. Change the opacity of the layer to the desired amount and do your dodging/burning. When happy then flatten your layers and then load your selection again to do any other work. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

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    Thanks Isaac, I agree about the noise with the 7D2, hoping to get the the 1DX Mark2 later this year for similar low light/action situations such as this image.
    Thanks for the processing suggestions, will rework the image in the near future with your ideas in mind.
    Aloha,
    Darrell Crisp
    www.darrellcrispphotography.com

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    BPN Member Bill Dix's Avatar
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    Terrific action captured here, with good wing spreads and a nice bg. Good advice from Isaac. I'd just add that when you select the bird(s), make sure to feather the selection a bit prior to sharpening. This can help avoid the halo.

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    Thanks Bill. Question for the group how much post-processing is acceptable when entering an image in a contest, say for instance the Audubon Contest?
    Aloha,
    Darrell Crisp
    www.darrellcrispphotography.com

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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    you got some cool action but unfortunately the IQ is just not there for this shot. the 7d2 won't give you again quality at that ISO as noted, try to photograph in better light where you can lower your ISO
    TFS
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    Thanks for your thoughts, I see a 1DX Mark2 in my future!
    Aloha,
    Darrell Crisp
    www.darrellcrispphotography.com

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    I see a 1DX Mark2 in my future!
    Darrell you will need to fully understand the camera and how to 'Drive' it. It will allow you to get the captures you want that's for sure, but you definitely have to 'instruct it' in how you want it to work/operate to ensure you get the images.

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    Thanks for your thoughts Steve! I've very much enjoyed the 7d2, but as I try to achieve the next level in BIF photos in low light (dream scenario is late evening varied background Hawaiian Short-eared Owl incoming landing/hunting) I think the 1dx2 is going to be an important factor.
    Aloha,
    Darrell Crisp
    www.darrellcrispphotography.com

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