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Thread: King of the castle

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    Default King of the castle

    White Breasted Cormorants continuously jostling for the spot right on top of the tree
    Tala Game reserve Kwa Zulu Natal South Africa 26/7 3pm
    R5
    600 f4 ii
    1/8000
    f8
    iso 2500
    small crop to center the image
    DXO Raw LRC Topaz Sharpen
    Name:  Comorant King of the Castle Small.jpg
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Size:  575.2 KB

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    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Wayne:

    A fun one. I like the inverted triangle composition, detail in departing birds wings, awkward landing pose of the incoming bird.

    Light was harsh with dark shadows, but less of an issue with the dark plumage of the bird.

    How do you like the Topaz Sharpen? I have read mixed reviews.

    Cheers

    Randy
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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    Nice shot well caught. The birds look well lit as it were yet the sky looks quite dark.

    Randy - Topaz AI sharpen personally I have reservations over AI sharpening, can be good can be excellent and can be poor. It sometimes requires a good look see to check out which version to use, mainly because it can invent pixels which I am not in favour of.

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Fun behavior shown.
    Angle is a bit steep and I wish we could see the departing cormorants face.
    You have great details in the departing bird's wing.
    Agree that the light was quite harsh but you can get away with it a bit more when dealing with black birds.
    Gail

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    Default

    I like the idea behind this frame. Do wish to see the other birds head though.

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    BPN Member William Dickson's Avatar
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    I also like this Wayne...If the bird on our left was flying towards the viewer and showing the head, it would take it up a few notches...Everything else looks good to me...Not an easy task getting two good HAs, but you did well considering the light conditions...

    Will

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Ditto pretty much everything above. It's a fun shot and I like it. A second head would have been nice :)

    with love, artie
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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Wayne, nice that you got two subjects in the focal plane!

    You got some great feedback above. Some good things here and some other areas you can definitely improve. Like the premise though...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Randy Stout View Post
    Wayne:

    A fun one. I like the inverted triangle composition, detail in departing birds wings, awkward landing pose of the incoming bird.

    Light was harsh with dark shadows, but less of an issue with the dark plumage of the bird.

    How do you like the Topaz Sharpen? I have read mixed reviews.

    Cheers

    Randy
    Hi Randy,
    Thank you for your comment much appreciated. For a plonker like me that can just press a button and see a visible improvement its a win for sure and thats why I bought it. The noise reduction included in the Sharpen AI module seems to work very well too. I do think however that over time when Im better skilled with LR & PS I will be using that platform. I have found that the automatic AI selection option is not that reliable and you do need to try out and see the results offered by the three options.

    Cheers

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonathan Ashton View Post
    Nice shot well caught. The birds look well lit as it were yet the sky looks quite dark.

    Randy - Topaz AI sharpen personally I have reservations over AI sharpening, can be good can be excellent and can be poor. It sometimes requires a good look see to check out which version to use, mainly because it can invent pixels which I am not in favour of.
    Hey Jonathan

    Thank you for your comments, I did darken the background (maybe a little too much) as it was quite bright. I agree on your view on Topaz it does work for sure but you have to experiment with the version for each shot.

    Cheers

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    Quote Originally Posted by gail bisson View Post
    Fun behavior shown.
    Angle is a bit steep and I wish we could see the departing cormorants face.
    You have great details in the departing bird's wing.
    Agree that the light was quite harsh but you can get away with it a bit more when dealing with black birds.
    Gail
    Hi Gail

    Thank you for your comments much appreciated. Angle was steep, the tree was around 30m from me and around 6m high I guess and they were on the very top.

    Cheers

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    Quote Originally Posted by John Mack View Post
    I like the idea behind this frame. Do wish to see the other birds head though.
    Hi John

    Thanks for your comments, agree the other head would have been awesome

    Cheers

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    Quote Originally Posted by William Dickson View Post
    I also like this Wayne...If the bird on our left was flying towards the viewer and showing the head, it would take it up a few notches...Everything else looks good to me...Not an easy task getting two good HAs, but you did well considering the light conditions...

    Will
    Hey Will

    Thanks very much for your comments, will be going back I love these birds, hopefully they will face me next time..

    Cheers

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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    Ditto pretty much everything above. It's a fun shot and I like it. A second head would have been nice :)

    with love, artie
    Hey Arthur

    Thank you for your comments, going to try and get that shot someday soon

    Cheers

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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Sump View Post
    Wayne, nice that you got two subjects in the focal plane!

    You got some great feedback above. Some good things here and some other areas you can definitely improve. Like the premise though...
    Hi Brian

    Thanks very much for the feedback

    Cheers

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    Same birds different dayName:  Comorant Nest Wings Small.jpg
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Size:  599.2 KB

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