Bald Eagle

[John Mack]

This juvenile bald eagle kept stealing fish from a couple great blue herons. This is the only time he flew towards me. This image was created at Montezuma national wildlife refuge in Tyre, New York on 4/16/18 at 1:47PM. Image made from vehicle. Image adjustments in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Hand held, Medium crop.

Canon 5D MarkIV
Sigma 150-600 Contemporary
484mm
ISO 3200
f6.3
1/800sec

[arash_hazeghi]

love the dynamic pose and the snow in the frame, fish looks good too. in a perfect world wings would be further up but I do like the motion blur on the primaries

Well done

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the shot , good focus on the head and fish, I am guilty myself but in retrospect had you used a longer focal length the crop would have been less and the quality higher.

[Daniel Cadieux]

It's not often we see eagles carrying prey in their bill rather than with their talons, cool! I love the rainy conditions and overall wet look to the eagle.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi John, can only echo the above comments, but I do think some more SS would have helped.

John/Arash a couple of questions for you guys:

J - Have you been dialling back Contrast & the Blacks in LR or just zeroed them?
J - Does the lens have IS and a mode for panning, if so did you set this?

A - ISO above 3200, the 5D should be very good and beyond, yes, as I have only tested the AF
A - Albeit 'wet' would the capture have benefited from HTP (D+) enabled?

Arash I know I think I read that you may have said that AFMA wasn't needed, however the four 5DMKIV I tested with a 500 all needed the same adjustment for both static & moving, do you think it's worth John just checking the calibration?

[Michael Thompson]

Nice capture with the story. i also love how the bluegill is in its bill. is it raining, or is that spray from its wet feathers?

[John Mack]

Hi John, can only echo the above comments, but I do think some more SS would have helped.

John/Arash a couple of questions for you guys:

J - Have you been dialling back Contrast & the Blacks in LR or just zeroed them?
J - Does the lens have IS and a mode for panning, if so did you set this?

A - ISO above 3200, the 5D should be very good and beyond, yes, as I have only tested the AF
A - Albeit 'wet' would the capture have benefited from HTP (D+) enabled?

Arash I know I think I read that you may have said that AFMA wasn't needed, however the four 5DMKIV I tested with a 500 all needed the same adjustment for both static & moving, do you think it's worth John just checking the calibration?

Hey Steve,

I have been dialing back the contrast and blacks.

Yes, Sigma calls it OS(optical stabilization). It was set for this shot.

[John Mack]

Nice capture with the story. i also love how the bluegill is in its bill. is it raining, or is that spray from its wet feathers?

Hey Micheal, It is raining.

[Steve Kaluski]

OK John, lets see what Arash hopefully has to say.

Might be worth starting at Zero, I just find the files are more 'contrasty' from Canon, especially if you compare it to Nikons equivalents, plus with LR's hidden add ons you are always fighting to keep mid tones.

[Don Lacy]

Hi John, really nice image the fish tin the beak and the rain really tells a story and takes the image to the next level.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi John, can only echo the above comments, but I do think some more SS would have helped.

John/Arash a couple of questions for you guys:

J - Have you been dialling back Contrast & the Blacks in LR or just zeroed them?
J - Does the lens have IS and a mode for panning, if so did you set this?

A - ISO above 3200, the 5D should be very good and beyond, yes, as I have only tested the AF
A - Albeit 'wet' would the capture have benefited from HTP (D+) enabled?

Arash I know I think I read that you may have said that AFMA wasn't needed, however the four 5DMKIV I tested with a 500 all needed the same adjustment for both static & moving, do you think it's worth John just checking the calibration?

Hey Steve, I don't have a sigma lens so can't comment. I also never use LR (I use DPP for Canon , C1P for Nikon) in DPP I rarely change contrast. Don't know about LR.
The calibration with 3rd party lenses is not straightforward as the camera does not recognize and "support" these lens, I hear they have a USB dock or something that you need to use to calibrate, so it's not simple like a canon lens

best

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks for coming back Arash.

Contrast re LR, no worries just trust me on that score.

Calibration, it was just something I thought John may wish consider, but without seeing the Raw it's always hard to know if things are own sharp or things have drifted within PP.

HTP (D+) I just wondered if the capture may have benefited from this being enabled, adding more Dynamic range. I use it off & on, but have not tried it in the wet and just wondered in your years if you had.

Thanks again.

[Isaac Grant]

John, why are you reducing blacks and contrast on your shots? The pose and rain are nice on this one. But as I have mentioned on many other shots, the bird looks thin and the whole scene looks flat to me. You are taking away the natural fullness of the scene I think by doing this.

[John Mack]

John, why are you reducing blacks and contrast on your shots? The pose and rain are nice on this one. But as I have mentioned on many other shots, the bird looks thin and the whole scene looks flat to me. You are taking away the natural fullness of the scene I think by doing this.

Hey Isaac, Steve told me too. I still add blacks and contrast but not as much.

[Isaac Grant]

I'm sorry John but I don't understand. You reduce the blacks and contrast and then you add blacks and contrast. I don't follow what you are saying. I think you need to rethink the work flow with regards to this.

By the way I was up at Montezuma last weekend. First time I was ever there. Nice place. Mostly I stopped by after having chased the Western Meadowlark that is nearby.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hey Isaac, Steve told me too. I still add blacks and contrast but not as much.

Hi John, I think you need to explain why I suggested you to reduce Blacks & Contrast.

Your images in Wildlife tended to be heavy in those areas, creating a 'Contrasty' image, with at times, some clipping in the Blacks & dark shadow areas. LR over the last few years has been doing a lot 'behind the scenes' stuff as I have said before, which you would not notice and one element is that it adds Contrast without you knowing when you start in the Development module, therefore pushing these areas like the Black & Contrast you are adding to these areas which suffer along with your mid tones and this is where your detail is. Therefore, knowing this, if you let LR do it's own thing, you can then just ease back on the amounts you previously used to put in, and therefore get a happier balance, especially with the new 5D. You just need to find that balance within the images which can be visual, but also just watch the 'triangles' in the top corners of the Dev Histogram, if they start to clip ease back, the sliders are quite sensitive to a degree.

I trust this help.

[John Mack]

Hey Steve, I usually do this in the develop module. Go until the blacks clip then pull them back until there is no clipping. Are you saying Lightroom adds contrast automatically to the RAW? I have also noticed that there seems to be a difference in processing between the forums. Post a contrasty saturated image in avian nobody will say two words about the processing. Do the same processing and post in wildlife and most will say the image has too much contrast and too much saturation. It could just be a difference in the monitors everybody is using. I don't know just my thoughts.

[Steve Kaluski]

Are you saying Lightroom adds contrast automatically to the RAW?

Yep, also in sharpening the default will say Amount 25, but depending on the camera make this too will vary. My files are prepped at capture and the recipe I use in LR takes what I know into account and so I don't allow Adobe to send me in any real direction and if you saw the Raw when it's imported it's as flat as anything, all I want is the basic data. In addition and I know folk won't believe it, but take a Canon & Nikon file shot together and use more of a 'geek' raw convertor, similar to C1 but better, both images exposed pefectly will show that they are both in fact under exposed by two thirds of a stop. We take a lot for granted, but when you up 'Pandora's' box...

this is why there has a bit of a back lash on the lasted LR update with all it's Filters, Adobe are leaving less for you to be creative and steer you down a path.

Cheers
Steve