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Thread: Does this pose do anything for you?

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    Default Does this pose do anything for you?

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    This is a Crested Caracara; the bird showed up at a vulture hide in Costa Rica and waited patiently on this perch while the King Vultures fed. I have lots of shots of this species from various locals, but for some reason this one appealed to me. Cropped heavily; it was shot in landscape. Little else was done-blacks on the bird brought down slightly, whites brought up slightly.
    I realize this is the "bird on a stick" shot, but as I grow older, I find that I like shooting "birds on a stick".
    Canon R5, 600 f/4+1.4. 1/500, f/8.0(big bird), ISO 1000,m EC -.7. DXO, PS.

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    Avian Moderator Brian Sump's Avatar
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    Hey James, I do like this pose personally.

    1. The head is straight down the barrel
    2. The slight head cock is nice
    3. The dorsal view, heavily in the focal plane is really nice

    I'd prefer the subject a little more right in frame but yeah, this can work nicely!

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    Macro and Flora Moderator Jonathan Ashton's Avatar
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    It looks pretty good to me James, the first thing I would check out in this style image is the eyes and they are in sharp focus, the pose/stance looks fine after all you wanted a portrait and you got one all aspect are in good focus, colours appear true. Nothing wrong I'd say, the only thing I would say is that BOAS often look stylized when everything is neat and tidy and the perch looks worn, the perch looks well worn and the background/surroundings look clinically clean.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi James, you should not have under exposed, by doing so you have created issues for yourself and the green backdrop is heavily posterised.

    You needed to be +EV. yes the whites might appear blown on the crappy sRGB JPEG the camera creates to view and yes, when imported into the DXO (sausage machine) it may tell you or indicate in red that its blown, but it's not, it just simply cannot render it. You then simply pull the whites back in within PP. You then have a much better file to work with, yes the ISO may have gone to 6400, big deal, most software these days can deal with it, I been shooting ISO12.800 with the R5 no problem.

    The image is sharp, but a little more USM would not go a miss and the Blacks/Shadows are heavily clipped. I would have included more below and less above, plus more to the LHS, as Brian suggested.

    TFS
    Steve
    Last edited by Steve Kaluski; 07-22-2023 at 07:01 AM.
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    [QUOTE=Brian Sump;1278672]Hey James, I do like this pose personally.

    Thank you. I have many images of this species over the years, both perched and in flight. This one was a little different.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonathan Ashton View Post
    It looks pretty good to me James, the first thing I would check out in this style image is the eyes and they are in sharp focus, the pose/stance looks fine after all you wanted a portrait and you got one all aspect are in good focus, colours appear true. Nothing wrong I'd say, the only thing I would say is that BOAS often look stylized when everything is neat and tidy and the perch looks worn, the perch looks well worn and the background/surroundings look clinically clean.
    Thank you. You are right about the stylized appearance of this image. Although this bird was unexpected, the image was taken from a hide where vultures (primarily King Vultures) were being baited. I am sure 100's of birds have sat on this same perch over the years. I have reached a point where I can tell where an image was taken that has been posted on social media by the perch.
    I guess shots that really emphasize the bird rather than the circumstances the bird is in appeals to me.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Hi James, you should not have under exposed, by doing so you have created issues for yourself and the green backdrop is heavily posterised.

    You needed to be +EV. yes the whites might appear blown on the crappy sRGB JPEG the camera creates to view and yes, when imported into the DXO (sausage machine) it may tell you or indicate in red that its blown, but it's not, it just simply cannot render it. You then simply pull the whites back in within PP. You then have a much better file to work with, yes the ISO may have gone to 6400, big deal, most software these days can deal with it, I been shooting ISO12.800 with the R5 no problem.

    The image is sharp, but a little more USM would not go a miss and the Blacks/Shadows are heavily clipped. I would have included more below and less above, plus more to the LHS, as Brian suggested.

    TFS
    Steve
    Thank you so much. Yes, I have a great fear of clipping hightlights. I end up shooting black and white birds frequently and, over the years (especially before the advent of some of the current processing softwares) have, literally, been burnt over blown whites. I will take more time using RAW Digger in the future to evaluate my images more accurately.
    ISO of 6400 does not bother me at all; if I go full manual, I start with ISO 1600 or 3200 frequently.
    I did not list it, but I did bring down the saturation of the BG slightly (about 10 points in ACR). Might that have contributed to the appearance of posterization?

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    I will take more time using RAW Digger in the future to evaluate my images more accurately. ISO of 6400 does not bother me at all; if I go full manual, I start with ISO 1600 or 3200 frequently. I did not list it, but I did bring down the saturation of the BG slightly (about 10 points in ACR). Might that have contributed to the appearance of posterization?
    Good man, ages ago I had said cameras are always under exposing, even if it looks right on the histogram, then Artie found RD and it shows how cameras fall short easily by 2/3rds if not a full stop, but he shoots Sony so he will get things right.

    The saturation would make minimal difference, it's mainly down to your exposure James and I bet you also lightened it.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Good man, ages ago I had said cameras are always under exposing, even if it looks right on the histogram, then Artie found RD and it shows how cameras fall short easily by 2/3rds if not a full stop, but he shoots Sony so he will get things right.

    The saturation would make minimal difference, it's mainly down to your exposure James and I bet you also lightened it.
    Thank you so much for pointing out these things. For the first time, since I purchased the soft ware, I sat down and studied the manuals for Raw Digger and Fast Raw Viewer. Fascinating stuff. I can see that my fear of overexposing highlights has led me to grossly underexpose other areas; to the point of being irretrievable. Will work on that.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    James, it’s not irretrievably, you just have to be able to process it, however 2 mins ago I just had the same conversation with another BPN member with the same issues and outcome, so now you know the way to go.
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    Although it may not be the reason here, I've also found that NR applied aggressively can also cause posterization in the BG when resizing for web.

    I love the pose indeed, cropping to vertical comp was the way to go. Would you have been able to flip vertical in-camera at the time? I prefer the bird to the right as per Steve's repost, but could also see it a bit higher (pointing the lens down an inch or two). Nice to see part of the talon sticking out too.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Daniel Cadieux View Post
    Although it may not be the reason here, I've also found that NR applied aggressively can also cause posterization in the BG when resizing for web.

    I love the pose indeed, cropping to vertical comp was the way to go. Would you have been able to flip vertical in-camera at the time? I prefer the bird to the right as per Steve's repost, but could also see it a bit higher (pointing the lens down an inch or two). Nice to see part of the talon sticking out too.
    Thank you for looking and commenting. Not sure about the source of the posterization. Not completely sure how to judge or prevent it.
    I was using too much lens in this situation but had been shooting vertical. I have about 10 shots of this bird in portrait, but had just turned the camera to horizontal to focus on a King Vulture that was perched about 10 meters behind this bird; I thought the KV was going to fly. Then the Caracara turned and I took this shot. Bad timing.

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