Clark's Grebe

[Bryan Holliday]

I know this isn't the best head angle, but it was a nice bird to shoot and I got close to getting a good one. I purposely have not sharpened this image and was wondering if anyone wanted to sharpen it and repost it with your sharpening method and USM values. I feel my sharpening needs a little help and am trying to find the best method.

Of course I'm open to any and all other critiques on the image.

Thanks for your help!

Bryan Holliday
Phoenix, AZ

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Angle, colors and light look good, I only wish the bird were angled toward you.

[Randy Stout]

Bryan:

Agree with Axel's assessment. I did open it in photoshop and did a few passes at the sharpening, but the image didn't respond gracefully. Is this a large crop? Can you supply camera, lens and post details? That might make it easier for us to help.

I normally use Photokit sharpener, with a three stage process, capture sharpening, selective image sharpening and then a gentle output sharpen depending on final use. I don't use USM at all anymore, too blunt of an instrument, at least in my hands.

Randy

[Bryan Holliday]

Thanks Axel and Randy. I too wish the bird was toward me, but this was the only wing-flap offering of the day from the bird. I cropped off about 25% of the frame, mostly from the right side and a little below for compositional purposes. I used the Canon 50D, 600 f4 IS, and a 1.4. I have resized it to 1024 wide at 96 dpi.

I went ahead a gave it my attempt and would like to know what you think. I selected much of the background, the inversed my selection so I basically had just the bird, then sharpened two rounds. First round with USM at 500%, 0.2, 0. Second round at 50%, 0.3, 0. This is much more than I normally use - I went with how the image was responding.

I also removed the right windtip that was visible behind the neck.

Thanks, Bryan

[Randy Stout]

Bryan:

I think this is an improvement for web posting. The eye in particular looks better, which of course is the first thing we all check.

I assume your work was done on the raw file, because it responded much better than what I was getting, and the Photokit does very well generally.

Very nice job on the exposure by the way.

Randy

PS: how is Arizona compared to Michigan (bit drier perhaps?)

[Bryan Holliday]

Thanks Randy. I actually sharpened the jpeg file I originally posted. Not sure why it responded more for me. I used CS4 if that makes any difference. I'll have to check into the Photokit.

Yes, AZ is a little drier than MI. I find the harsh light to be pretty challenging here for bird photography for a good portion of the year. But we're getting into the time now where it can be great. I always wanted more sunlight in SW MI during fall, winter, and spring - now I find myself wishing for any kind of cloud.