This pose is absolutely killer, Dan. Beautiful view of the speculum. However, I'm not sure if it's noise or lack of sharpness, but the image quality comes up short for me. This had the potential to be the best mallard shot I've ever seen.
Thanks for your honest thoughtful critique. Cannot fool you, this is 30% of a D500 frame at iso1100 so not much too work with
Did my best PP, I thought the pose was killer too.
DFC light also.
I have the best Duck pond in the Northwest so always another day...
Last edited by Arthur Morris; 04-02-2019 at 07:28 AM.
Dan you should try doing this photo with the workflow I suggested. It may help. Nice pose but as presented the image quality is not great. I think if you follow those steps you will have a better final product. May not be as good as if the shot was close to full frame but it will be better for sure.
Thanks for the comments..
Isaac, I just did the math, this is only 20% of original frame of a D500 file. About 5 mp.
If it was not for the pose, I would not have bothered with processing it.
I think my workflow is the only thing that made this even possible.
A simple photo of a wigeon, but almost perfect histogram exposure, iso125
The first is processed like you do, jpeg sharpened at 100, .05 on subject. downsized to 1600 wide
The second is TK, subject not sharpened at all, downsized with TK web sharpening.
Both are about 250kb.
TK actions are used extensively in Landscape and Macro photography, it is complicated PS stuff, layers etc.
but his Web sharpening is awesome, you just size and click.
For what it is worth, my files are sharpened prior to downsizing and then again after downsizing. Both times at 100 and .5 (of course not every file is the exact same, some need even less sharpening both times). Is that what you did? or you only sharpened prior to downsizing? Also the wigeon shot does not have perfect exposure at all. The whole photo is dark, the blacks of the undertail are completely lacking details, the green on the head is a dull green and not a vibrant green like wigeons have. Plus both versions look soft to me. Dan we keep going back and forth here. This wigeon is an instant delete in my book for all of the reasons I just described. Here is a wigeon that has proper exposure, details in the blacks, details in the whites, proper colors on the head and body and plenty of details there also. Look at the bumps on the beak and the grooves in the tongue. Look at the whites of the crown and the feathers on the face. Look at the feathers on the wings. That is what a detailed and sharp photo should look like. As I said in my grosbeak post, we seem to have very different ideas of what a sharp and properly exposed file looks like. I consider my wigeon photo not post worthy either and is one that I would never post on this forum. My shooting angle was too steep and I do not like that for waterfowl photos. I will get better shots than this of American Wigeon and then I will post one. Until then I will keep trying. Unfortunately there were birds between me and this wigeon and I had to raise up to get this shot. I was hoping it and the wigeon it was yelling at would fight or fly and was ready and that is the only reason I took the shot at such a steep angle.
Last edited by Isaac Grant; 04-01-2019 at 11:05 PM.
Isaac,
I just grabbed a photo, not great by any means. I just used it as an example for posting both versions.
I am not trying to show off here, just discussing..
My photo, regardless of the quality was processed both ways, my only point.
The TK version is better...
Stay in the bubble...You need to get outside bird photography, it will improve your bird photography...
Mallard top side.
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