Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
Taken from garden hide, the delicate salmon pink takes on a different hue in brighter light. There was another bullfinch on the feeding station and this one wanted him to buzz off.
Canon5D IV Canon 500mm f4 L IS II
Auto ISO 1600 -03, 1/1600 sec f8
Just killing time waiting patiently for short eared owls, got some but not good enough, who knows maybe black grouse tomorrow - fingers crossed.
Last edited by Jonathan Ashton; 02-15-2019 at 11:41 AM.
Really digging that perch. The calling pose on the bird is nice. Nice background as well. You have owls in the garden as well?
Really like this,great colors. Wish for more head angle. But we take what is offered.Bending over.calling is nice on a great perch.
This frame has all the making to be great but isn't quite there. Lighting and background are perfect, and the bird is super sharp. Calling pose is great but misses on eye contact. Likewise, the perch is wonderful but isn't in sharp focus, particularly where the bird's feet meet it. I'm surprised you didn't nail the perch at f/8.
Very nice Jonathan! The perch is a stunner and the light is superb. The bird itself looks sharp and well exposed. I agree with Dorian about the sharpness of the perch and the headangle. I would also apply some more noise reduction to the BG.
Hi Jon, great to see a Bullfinch, not seen one for quite a while sadly.
Jon, how much of a crop is this, almost FF or cropped? I'm just wondering if a nats more SS may have helped here? With that DoF and the upper branch leading away, you won't get it sharp, but I would prune the small off shoot behind the lichen on the RHS. Be nice to have more lichen on that upper plain part. Detail on the head and throat looks a bit *'coarse' and the shadow on the upper chest is less appealing. The head looking away, challenging the one on the feeding may not be everyones cup of Tea, but it is what it is. I'd be happy to get this even with the HA, such a rare sighting. Personally I feel the BKG is fine, no need for any NR, this obsession for completely smooth backdrops often looks false, and at 1600 ISO it's fine, wonder how folk would process files that are 10, 16, or 20k?
TFS
Steve
* Think this is mainly down to your sharpening method Jon.
Thanks for the feedback everyone:
John no the owls are on the nearby marshes - but again no luck!
Dorian the perch would not be in focus because the head is in focus at 6- 6.5m distance the magnification is such that the DOF is limited, you'll see wing tips are just about in and just OOF respectively. The overriding point to bare in mind is the magnification of subject, not the distance or the lens, they are variables.
Ivan, Dorian The background noise doesn't concern me , I think it is minimal, making it it super smooth with no texture - what would it achieve?
Steve - maybe I should have considered variation in the sharpening layer, I must admit it didn't occur to me at the time.
Agree with the above suggestions, regarding the HA not been perfect, but I still like the shot with the all the colors, I would run a bit of noise reduction on the background tho.
Hi Jon, thanks for the file, the RAW is pin sharp, the 'Case' setting looks bang on and likewise the AFMA for the 5D4, my only wish was that the FP was one below, the centre one and it was on the head, easier said than done, but...Ivan, Dorian The background noise doesn't concern me , I think it is minimal, making it it super smooth with no texture - what would it achieve?
In LR or ACR if you want to add any masking then mask at 8 would be fine, Lum 4, Colour 6, but it all depends on what you wish for.
Now with hindsight I think it's just a little bit of compression, however at this stage, or at any Output stage, this is purely 'perceptual' sharpening you are doing, but blanket sharpening is first base IMHO, as it's not cast in stone that you cannot apply various %'s in the sharpening process of an image, it all depends on how you output and what method of sharpening is required, what will offer the best result: USM, Smart sharpen, High Pass, Contrast sharpening, Channel sharpening, LR output, or sharpening without sharpening to name just a few options, there is a whole raft at your disposal within PS.Steve - maybe I should have considered variation in the sharpening layer, I must admit it didn't occur to me at the time.
I've sent you back an option.
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