spooked red cardinal

[annmpacheco]

Taken from a blind in Texas, this male cardinal came in for a quick drink in the 104 degree heat and anxiously left in a flash... I chose a 1:1 crop as this was full frame and i didn't have room on either side. I reduced the saturation of reds in DPP, -1. Also, removed a few bright spots on the ground. How's the reds and any suggestions about the beak? Thanks.

1Dx
100-400mmII
504mm

ISO 1600
f 8
1/4000

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

I would leave a little more space on the right side of the bird.

Red looks good to me.

I like the wing position on the right side, but not so much on the left which is near the beak.

Thanks for sharing.

[David Roach]

SH, details and reds all look great to me. As this beauty is stretching high, I'd prefer more on top and bottom. TFS

[Arthur Morris]

REDs look borderline hot to me. Same suggestion as always from me: try adding 40-90 points of CYAN to the RED channel in Selective Color ... Great that you got the whole bird in the frame. And sharp. What do you want to do with the beak?

with love, artie

[John Mack]

Nice one. The crop works very well. Love the red bird and the red dirt. Great wings up pose.

[Isaac Grant]

Oh boy is this a super pose of a cardinal. You have excellent image quality and I mean excellent. On the 5k Imac, the reds look spot on to me as well and just as I would imagine they should in glowing early morning light. I do wish the rear wing was raised a bit more. The highlights are blown on the beak and a bit on the rear leg. Both can be fixed if you are OK with cloning and doing some post work on them. Still a really great frame.

[Arthur Morris]

As presented, I found lots of R=255 ... Is that what you want? Do check the master file ....

[Arthur Morris]

For the repost adding CYAN to the REDs to start was not enough as there were still lots of R=255 spots. So I used a new trick -- I opened a layer of Camera Raw Filter and reduced the Luminosity of the RED channel. Note: this would best be done during the RAW conversion. Then I added 40 points of CYAN to the RE channel in Selective Color to bring the R values into the mid 230s.

Therefore, though everyone above but me stated that that the REDs looked "good", they were not in fact good. The RGB numbers do not lie :)

The bill clean-up mostly with the Spot Healing Brush and Content Aware Fill.

And yes, everything above -- even the use of the Camera Raw Filter after the fact, is detailed in Digital Basics II.

with love, artie

ps: the IQ looked great but for the REDs.

[Arthur Morris]

ps: it is ironic that in ABP II the example that I used to show how effective adding CYAN to the REDs in Selective Color was a Northern Cardinal photographed at a ranch in Texas.

am

[Arthur Morris]

pps: if the bill is too clean send me the RAW file and I will share another trick ...

am

[annmpacheco]

pps: if the bill is too clean send me the RAW file and I will share another trick ...

am

Thank you Artie for the bill clean-up, it looks great. I'll be working through the exact steps myself and will try apply the Camera Raw Filter layer/reduce luminosity etc, ... After that, I'll give it another go on another male cardinal... appreciate your time and explanations...

[Isaac Grant]

I like both versions. With things like this I do not look at the histograms. Just trust my eye. Compressed and downsized jpegs will be more contrasty so histogram will not necessarily be accurate to what the full res is. Excellent job on the bill clean up!

[Bill Dix]

Nice capture, Ann. Those wishing for a bit more room didn't read your post; a bit more might have been nice but when you are that close you can't always get it. I like the pose and the IQ, and the reds looked good to me in the OP, even if a bit blown in spots (Cardinals are tricky that way). I like Artie's repost too, but if anything the reds look a little on the brownish side when compared with your vivid OP.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Bill, Your vivid is my over-saturated and detail-less.

with love, artie

[greg cowle]

Great capture with the wings and water drops.

[Isaac Grant]

It really does make a huge difference what monitor we are viewing this on. On my 5k Imac, Ann's version is bright but beautifully detailed and nothing looks too hot. Close but not baked. Artie your version is a bit more subdued and adding the cyan has made the reds a bit browner, but the details look the same. Both look beautiful to me but I guess that the fine details like this and subtle color differences really do change from monitor to monitor. I know on my work screen which is right next to my Imac that things look totally different.

[Arthur Morris]

As I said, in the OP many of the REDs show R=255. If that is what you want, go for it. And yes, I understand that contrast is increased when we create a JPEG.

am