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Thread: Mountain Birding 4.0 - Hairy Woodpecker

  1. #1
    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Default Mountain Birding 4.0 - Hairy Woodpecker

    Name:  2020-06-22-Downy-Woodpecker-grub-Brian-Sump-_BMS6520-SIG-FORUM-THURS-SSlarge-final.jpg
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    This was one of the more challenging shots I've taken. Black and white bird exposed properly mostly behind the tree blocking it from the light source.

    I left a little noise on the bird as the ISO and SS were already creating some challenges and I didn't want to over smooth things - hopefully not undercooked here in terms of noise red. The flecks on head and neck were evident in raw as I think he was pecking around on other trees to find the grub.

    If you have a sharpening comment, please be as specific as possible as to what part(s) you feel are an issue. TIA!

    D850
    600mm+1.4
    HH
    ISO 2000
    1/640
    f5.6

    Post in LR and PS. Remove a couple sticks, removed extra catchlights in eye, curves and exposure adj, reduced yellows on bird, NIK, DNAI and saturation. Yeah, quite a bit of coaxing to save but nothing artificial on bird previously not stated...

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    BPN Member dankearl's Avatar
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    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    I would not worry about iso that much if I live in Colorado since
    I shoot in low light all the time. iso 2000 is nothing these days unless you
    are making fine art prints.
    I would do this with this photo.
    Great perch, sharp as can be.
    The noise here could easily be fixed in the Raw processing.
    I cropped a tiny jpeg.
    This may not be your vision.
    I cropped and removed the upper branch.
    Did a bit of NR on this tiny file.

    Brian.jpg
    Last edited by dankearl; 06-25-2020 at 08:03 PM.
    Dan Kearl

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    Hi Brian,
    Sorry to be the first as I am not a very good pixel peeper. I love the composition of both posts and your EXP looks spot on. Pretty good getting the subject perfectly exposed in the shade while not blowing out that beautiful sky. The perch as you say couldn't get much better. It looks ever so slightly over sharpened ( slightly jaggy around face) with OP looking better than repost (of course from JPG) in that dept. Overall, I love both posts and I would bet you could make art prints from both with refinement IMHO. Beautiful classic pose, perch and sky... TFS

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    Nice shot Brian probably like Dans version without the branch. What I like is the soft light in the background goes very well with the bird.And the small hint of green goes with the grub.Well captured. TFS.

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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Thanks guys. I should have spent more time with the bird on noise and distractions.

    Much better now I think. Made the corrections on the large file and re-saved. I tend to want to leave the branch but can always crop down from here....

    David - fixed the Mick Jagger face

    Name:  2020-06-22-Downy-Woodpecker-grub-Brian-Sump-_BMS6520-SIG-FORUM-THURS-SSlarge-repost.jpg
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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Alright, maybe this is kinda nice....

    Name:  2020-06-22-Downy-Woodpecker-grub-Brian-Sump-_BMS6520-SIG-FORUM-THURS-SSlarge-repost-crop.jpg
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    Yep, repost looks great. Mucho detail and great tonal range on my favorite little woodpecker.

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    Yep, reposts look great. Mucho detail and great tonal range on my favorite little woodpecker.

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    Super Moderator arash_hazeghi's Avatar
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    nice woodie, the processing seems off to me. I see jagged artifacts (too much sharpening) and the blocked blacks, too much contrast and strange white-dot artifacts (noise/over sharpening). to me the feathers look as someone waxed the downy or if you had a strong fill flash...I think it's all the filters and extras that are overcooking it...Dan's clean up of the branch is a big improvement BTW



    TFS
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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by arash_hazeghi View Post
    nice woodie, the processing seems off to me. I see jagged artifacts (too much sharpening) and the blocked blacks, too much contrast and strange white-dot artifacts (noise/over sharpening). to me the feathers look as someone waxed the downy or if you had a strong fill flash...I think it's all the filters and extras that are overcooking it...Dan's clean up of the branch is a big improvement BTW



    TFS
    Ari, did you see my reposts? Addressed most of your critique.

    I will be first to say I had to go thorugh more steps here to achieve what I believe I saw in the field, agreeing with your comments. Still a little to be desired in the blacks on the body. FWIW, I don't use these tools in every shot and maybe it's too much but with the little man my shooting is limited so I may have to spend a bit more time in the editing room for now creating shots I like

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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    So the blacks weren't blocked; I had blacks at -14 in LR for some reason.

    Was able to get them lifted, added a little canvas on left.

    Name:  2020-06-22-Downy-Woodpecker-grub-Brian-Sump-_BMS6520-SIG-FORUM-THURS-SSlarge-repost-blacksup.jpg
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    Looks good to me. Nice view of the kickstand tail. I like the worm or grub maybe a bug. I don't mind the branch above the bird.

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    Good looking frame, but I agree the bird looks a bit crunchy or 'waxy' as Ari put its. Your processing workflow seems really complicated, and I wonder if all the steps are working against you. I understand the shooting/lighting conditions required more aggressive
    processing after the fact, so there's that as well. The details on the face are really nice, and the prey item adds a nice tough of green to the frame. You were wise to add the canvas after removing the branch (I wouldn't have taken the time to do either).

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    Hi Brian, nice Hairy Woodpecker, I don't see many in Florida. I agree with Arash's comments and also wonder why you are using third party filters when all post processing can be done in Lightroom. The last post of the image is better than the first regarding the blacks. Thanks you for sharing.
    Last edited by Joseph Przybyla; 06-27-2020 at 02:20 PM.
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