Rainbow Lorikeet Portrait

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

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Captured on Canon 7D with 300mm F/4L IS f/5.6, 1/125 Sec., ISO 800, 0 Step. App. Priority, Pattern Metering, Hand Held.

Had to hold my breath on this one taken from 1.9 Meters without IS as it is too noisy on this lens.

[Steve Canuel]

Nice close up of this beautifully colored bird. Looks happy to have his picture taken. I think it could use a little more sharpening.

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

Nice close up of this beautifully colored bird. Looks happy to have his picture taken. I think it could use a little more sharpening.

Thanks Steve you are probably right as nothing was done to alter the RAW image and I cropped in JPEG.

I am doing some testing of my cameras and lens combos in marginal photographic situations (see shutter speed) and this one pleased me but I will return to the Tiff and adjust accordingly.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Chris, Killer colors. I love the basic comp and everything else except for the see. Are you aware that digital images out of the camera are inherently unsharp as compared to film images?

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

Are you aware that digital images out of the camera are inherently unsharp as compared to film images?

Yes I am getting the idea Artie and have just installed CS4 and wanted to see if the 7D was worse or better "au natural" than the other cameras, obviously not.

Now I have to research sharpening methods. Is it better to use the rudimentary sharpening in ACR or in the Tiff? or should I sharpen when I have resized the image for the web?

I will work on this and re-post please feel free to point me in the right direction.

Another problem I have is I have recently had to get rid of my once beautiful Trinitron CRT monitors and I find that even the high end LCD monitors are not good enough and I must prepare myself to spend the big bucks on the best LCD monitors available, any ideas where I should look for these?

Thanks mate, your advice is always commensurate with your incredible ability.

How goes your sugar levels? mine are fine but STILL 10 kilos to go and they are the hard kilos to lose.

Cheers.

[arash_hazeghi]

Looks good, lovely HA, colors and I am sure RAW has lots of detail, however there is something wrong with processing here as there are heavy compression artifacts in the BG and feathers are soft, just needs better processing :)

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Chris,

I will do my best here where I can :)

Yes I am getting the idea Artie and have just installed CS4 and wanted to see if the 7D was worse or better "au natural" than the other cameras, obviously not.

As per my recent blog and Bulletin comments, I love the image quality of the 7D.

Now I have to research sharpening methods. Is it better to use the rudimentary sharpening in ACR or in the Tiff? or should I sharpen when I have resized the image for the web?

Ah, so many misconceptions about. The following is all covered in detail in Digital Basics which would seem to be written especially for you. :) You can learn more about Digital Basics here: https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/ca....aspx?catid=32

I recommend setting the default Clarity Slider in ACR to 30. This increases mid-tone contrast and acts a bit like low level in-camera sharpening. Your master TIFF file should never be sharpened (except for selective sharpening of portions of the image almost always using a Contrast Mask (unsharp mask at 15/65/0 or thereabouts).

An image should be sharpened only after it has been duplicated and then sized for final usage whether it be for a billboard or for a small JPEG. The larger the file, the more sharpening the same image will need. Again, instructions and recommendations for sharpening various sized images can be found in Digital Basics.

I will work on this and re-post please feel free to point me in the right direction.

Sharpening for the web can be done nicely using Unsharp Mask. First set the Radius at .3 pixels and then begin increasing the Amount from about 200 to 500%. Work large and watch for artifacts and halos; when they appear, back off on the Amount a bit.

Another problem I have is I have recently had to get rid of my once beautiful Trinitron CRT monitors and I find that even the high end LCD monitors are not good enough and I must prepare myself to spend the big bucks on the best LCD monitors available, any ideas where I should look for these?

No clue there mate; try posting the question in the Photography Gear or Digital Photography Workflow Forums. (I never liked CRT monitors :))

Thanks mate, your advice is always commensurate with your incredible ability.

Thanks for your more than kind words.

How goes your sugar levels? mine are fine but STILL 10 kilos to go and they are the hard kilos to lose.

Fine is relative.... Western medicines recommendations for a1c levels are way too high. My average blood glucose for the past week has been 94. This translates to 5.2 mmol/L (which I believe is how you measure things) and to an a1c of about 4.9 %. In other words, pretty darned good!

I would still recommend getting a copy of Richard K. Bernstein's The Diabetes Solution.

[Arthur Morris]

ps: If you limit your intake of carbs to 36 grams per day in the form of salads and low glycemic index veggies the weight will fall off quickly. Once you reach your goal you raise the amount of protein that you are eating. I eat about 5 ounces of protein for breakfast, 7 ounces for lunch, and 6 ounces for dinner and my weight is holding steady at 173. :)

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

Thanks folk your help is appreciated.

Artie I tried what you suggested with the veggies and salads but found my energy levels significantly lower and my Doctor suggested more fruit (5 times a day) I have almost cut out carbs altogether.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks folk your help is appreciated. Artie I tried what you suggested with the veggies and salads but found my energy levels significantly lower and my Doctor suggested more fruit (5 times a day) I have almost cut out carbs altogether.

YAW. I eat zero fruits. :) Fruits = lots of carbs. Good luck.

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

YAW. I eat zero fruits. :) Fruits = lots of carbs. Good luck.

I am restricting myself to small portions of apples, berries, melons, tomato and avocado.

I have reworked the resized image using Unsharp Mask, still trial and error but what do you think?

PS my 1c is 4.8 so we are running neck and neck

PPS Just ordered Digital Basics and the MKIII setup, Thanks mate.


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[Arthur Morris]

Wow, if your a1c is 4.8 please do NOT listen to anything that I recommend :) You are doing great; Bernstein would be happy.

As for the image, you totally ruined it :) It is way-oversharpened. WAY! (I thought that the original post looked pretty good.)

Do check out the free sharpening tutorial in yesterday's Blog post here: www.birdsasart-Blog.com

I think that it is just what you need. :)

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

As for the image, you totally ruined it :) It is way-oversharpened. WAY! (I thought that the original post looked pretty good.)

Thanks Artie, I hated the oversharpened image but I applied the (unsharp mask figures you suggested) I tend to prefer less sharpened images and when I applied the settings on the original image the noise was terrible.

I ordered the "Digital basics" and the MKIII settings from your site.

Just finished my dinner of Apple, melon and banana, breakfast of rolled oats to come followed by a 10 mile hike tomorrow to try to nail some Wedge Tailed Eagles.

I will try again tomorrow to get the image right and post it and give you my settings for your perusal.

I also got a great reply (though expensive but you can't take your dough with you when you go) regarding the Monitor situation, thanks again.

Take care mate and thank you most of all for your caring advice about my health, can't take good photos from the grave.:)

Cheers.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Artie, I hated the oversharpened image but I applied the (unsharp mask figures you suggested)

Hey Chris, Not! You screwed up somewhere. Here's what I wrote above: Sharpening for the web can be done nicely using Unsharp Mask. First set the Radius at .3 pixels and then begin increasing the Amount from about 200 to 500%. Work large and watch for artifacts and halos; when they appear, back off on the Amount a bit.

And I add the same to this morning's blog post. For my repost here I simply grabbed your original post and went to Unsharp Mask at 203/.3/0. It looks great. So as I said mate, "You screwed up" (somewhere or somehow). :)

[Arthur Morris]

PS; You need to brush up on your JPEG or master file creation techniques as I just noticed some serious artifacting in the BKGR. Digital Basics will surely help with that. :)

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

Artie I thank you and the others for your patience and help but I have taken enough of your time on this bird.

Rest assured I will eventually find where I stuffed up and rectify it and I am eagerly awaiting my copy of Digital Basics, in the mean time I have returned to my original RAW file sans xmp file and will start again from scratch using the advice given by all here.

Thanks again this place rocks.

Cheers.

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. I am most happy that you have gotten your blood sugar under control!

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

YAW. I am most happy that you have gotten your blood sugar under control!

Yes Artie, we may well live a few more years yet.:)

My Digital Basics and MKIII info files arrived in my inbox this morning they are already on my Laptop so I can begin my studies whilst waiting for my Eagles to show up this weekend, long hike but beautiful weather.

Cheers mate.