Bald Eagle along Lake Rankin

[Larry W Brown]

My first Bald Eagle shot, and so close to home (Gaston County, NC)! He was about 50 feet up a tree along side the lake. Slightly cropped to portrait format.

Sony A6400, Sony 200-600mm G lens
1/750 sec.
f/6.3
600mm (900mm APS-C)
ISO 250

[Jonathan Ashton]

Larry, the image looks like it was taken from 50 feet lower, sorry but the angle is not good. ISO is low yet the image appears noisy (says he who uses 4/3 system!), the dark plumage appears dense, i.e. little detail. Sorry if that sound a little brutal but it was intended as constructive comment. For an image like this I think the photographer should consider the shooting angle, -i.e. would it have looked better if not taken from so low a vantage point? If nothing could be done about the angle are there any extenuating circumstances that would overcome the angle? then the pose of the bird and the exposure, then after initial capture consider (if necessary) noise reduction. Hope this helps.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Larry and welcome to BPN. We can all remember how excited we were the first time that we got close to a raptor with our new lens ... You did a good job of picking a spot where you could get through the leaves with a relatively clear view of the subject. But after that it is all downhill. As Jon pointed out, the shooting angle is very steep. And the noise is excessive. Most of the bird is in shade but the back of the white head is sunlit. It is best to avoid photographing subjects in mixed light, i.e., sun and shade ... The bird's tail is clipped. And there is an out-of-focus branch between you and the eagle's talons. And yes, the image is very noisy.

Study the images here and keep at it. If you apply yourself, you can begin making better images.

with love, artie

ps: Best advice: get a copy of The Art of Bird Photography II and let it become your bible.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Larry, I'm not going to repeat the above, but would say this:

1. If you haven't and Artie has produced one, then get his guide on setting the camera up. Too many folk these days just take their new toys straight out of the box and don't really set their camera up correctly and wonder why they get poor images and consequently blame the camera.

2. Again, if Artie's PDF covers Basic steps in simple Post Production (and to advanced?) bite his had off and get it. Again, folk in their processing move sliders with no real understanding and to be truthful, you really only need to adjust a few providing the file is properly exposed.

3. Monthly or when your monitor tells you, calibrate it, this is imperative, not use in taking a world beating image is your mentor is not calibrated correctly.

Larry the Colour noise is horrendous and the image isn't/appears not sharp, however you can address the Noise to a degree, but in doing so you need more sharpening, so you get caught up in the washing machine cycle. If you get the correct White balance correct, address the noise and sharpening, then you give the viewers more to offer constructive feedback on your posting. Not much you can do with blown whites.
Based on the above this is what I came up with as a suggestion/direction, but using the laptop is not ideal, however the OP is less than ideal, hope this and the above comments help.

TFS
Steve

[Larry W Brown]

Wow, a lot of constructive feedback, thnx guys! Here are my take-aways:


1. Angle too steep; a more shallow angle and/or get as level with the bird as possible.

2. Noisy Image.

3. Avoid subjects that are in both shade and bright sunlight.

4. Review my camera setup with tips from the pros (Artie's book).

5. Review my post-processing work flow (Artie's book). I use PaintShop Pro 2021.

6. Calibrate my monitor. I have an old Dell 24".


Questions:

- I'm thinking my image is too noisy mostly because the bird is in the shade and it is underexposed?

- Would software like Topaz Denoise be worth it to add to my work flow?

- Steve mentioned white balance. I always use auto white balance. Should I re-look at this?

-Steve, your post processing of my image looks significantly better. Thnx for doing that...it really shows how much I have to go with my post-processing work :)


Thnx again,

Larry

[arash_hazeghi]

some great pointers above,

My advise is that don't get hung up too much on noise and processing now, this image would be a delete even if it wasn't underexposed. the steep angle, the clutter and the head turned away is a fatal combination, sometimes some shots are just not going to make an avian photograph because of non ideal conditions. Just like trying to make good steak with rotten meat...just a non starter. first try to get an aesthetically pleasing image with good light and focus and you'll find that processing is not all that diffcult

best of luck and welcome!

[Steve Kaluski]

My advise is that don't get hung up too much on noise and processing now, this image would be a delete even if it wasn't underexposed. the steep angle, the clutter and the head turned away is a fatal combination, sometimes some shots are just not going to make an avian photograph because

Good recap Arash, however I do feel that getting even some simple, basic grasps in Post Production is essential, as both Photography & PP work 'hand in glove' and as we have seen recently in some postings, images can be taken with the best of kits, but let down in PP because of basic/rocky errors. Larry, you don't need to be Harry Potter, or Gandolf, however I'm sure with Artie's publication they will put you on the right road, with solid steps. In addition I have no idea what Paintshop Pro is, but for what it's worth, I would suggest you bite the bullet and invest in Photoshop via Creative Cloud. It's a few bucks a month, but you get probably the best 'all-round' Software for editing Raw - JPEG and going vis creative Cloud (CC) you will get every update that is launched, just check your computer can run it. In addition, you never own PS via PSCC, so if you ever stop the monthly fee, you can never use it again, you will have 'sold your soul to the devil' so to speak.

Practice, get to know your camera and ultimately have fun, always remember - Negatives are good, because you/we learn from them, and so they become Positives.