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Thread: Osprey with Shellcracker

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    Default Osprey with Shellcracker

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    After a great morning of hanging out with Joe Przybyla, I was just getting ready to leave Circle B and didn’t even know this Osprey was hunting the marsh in front of me from way up in the sky. I heard the splash, aimed the camera, and started firing.

    Below are short rundowns of settings and my post processing:


    Canon 7Dii and 100-400mm ƒ4.5-5.6L ii; and the 1.4x iii TC
    ISO 1000
    AV ƒ/8
    TV 1/3200
    Focal Length 560mm
    Manual Exposure / Servo / AF Point Expansion / Back Button Focus

    Processed in DPP4 and PScc

    1) In DPP, I raised the shadows and lowered the highlights
    2) I cropped a fair amount off the top
    3) added Nik DE and NR on both subject and BG separately
    4) sharpened @.3 and 110 after resizing

    Thanks for taking the time to look. As always, telling me what you like about the shot, and what might improve the final product is appreciated.
    Last edited by Noel Heustis; 04-12-2018 at 03:55 PM.

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    BPN Member William Dickson's Avatar
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    Very nice flight pose, good eye contact and I like how the prey is facing us. I would, lighten up slightly, the birds left wing. I would also try sharpening the head slightly, along with the talons and the fish. I like your chosen crop.

    Will

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    I like this kind of pose as a break from the typical side view of them with a fish. Good pose on the fish as well. The light was not at your back here which is hard with flying birds to get them just right and cause some bad shadowing. The problem is that the bird does not look sharp to me. It doesn't look tack sharp anywhere on the bird. Perhaps to motion blur?

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    You did well my friend, wish I had not left. Nice colors, detail, and wonderful fish with the head still attached. I don't see anything I would change that you can control. If the birds right wing was extended like the left wing it would take this image to a higher level. Thank you for sharing, Noel. Really nice meeting at Circle B and photographing side by side.
    Joe Przybyla

    "Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams

    www.amazinglight.smugmug.com

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    The pose, intensity, and fish combine to make this a strong image despite it not being perfectly sharp. There is also
    a faint halo around the bird and the fish, an artifact that I imagine originated from lightening the shadowed underwing.

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Nice one Noel. The image looks pretty sharp on the eye but sharpest focus might be behind that as the water droplets look very sharp ... I am not seeing any obvious halos but I rarely do :)

    with love, artie
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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hi Noel, great catch for both of you, and I like the semi head on capture here. We have a great view of the fish, and I like the falling droplets. Without reading any comments, I feel you could try another round of sharpening.

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    Thank you for all of the comments. I took some advice and lightened more of the underwing parts that were in deep shadow, and I used Artie's contrast mask on the face to sharpen the image up a bit. I'm getting used to using the new teleconverter and it seems like my sharper images come from manually focusing and not using the AF. I might have to look into the whole focus tuning thing at some point.
    Last edited by Arthur Morris; 04-13-2018 at 01:43 PM.

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