Another Egret

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon 400mm f/5.6
f/8 @ 1/1600 sec ISO 320 Handheld
Sharpening, lightening, and minor crop in CS5. NR in Noiseware Pro

[Bill Dix]

This has an interesting, almost somber, twilight look to it. Almost too somber -- maybe putting the bird on a separate layer and dodging the head a bit might help to brighten it further?? I'm not sure the square crop works for me, but that's a matter of personal preference. I might take a bit off the right and add just a bit to the top if you have it, making it more vertical. HA on the look-back pose is perfect.

[Lance Peters]

Hi IAN - Prefer this over the first one - like the look back pose - exppsure looks good - BG is what it is.
Looks just a litle flat on my screen - a little contrast maybe.
Could just be my screen.
Keep em coming :)

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks Bill and Lance. Hmmm ... Somber? Didn't think that ... It was an early morning image ... I'll try the suggested crop and a bit of brightening and see how that works.

Ian

[Harold Davis]

this is really nice, ian! i like the light on the bird. one thing is bothering me. there is a specular highlight just in front of the bird that my eye keeps going to. minor adjustment! i like that water looks in the bg. did you use noiseware over the entire image or just the bg?

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Harold. Yes, I noticed that highlight and was going to remove it and forgot. It'll have to wait until I'm home from work. I used Noiseware on BG only.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Ian, I like the pose and the color balance. The image seems a bit soft to me overall, especially in the eye/head area. Have you tried calibrating this lens/body combination? I shoot with this exact setup and found that my 400mm f/5.6 lens has a front-focus issue with both the 7D and 50D bodies. I ended up with +6 points on the 50D and +7 on the 7D to get the plane of focus in the right place. Take a look at the log the snowy is standing on. It seems sharp to me right under his feet but closer to the viewer. Might be worth looking into. Also, (and I don't want to hijack this thread with this question) are you using "highlight tone priority"? I'm trying to sort that one out for myself and it seems to help with white birds.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks for the comments, Kerry. Actually, it looks quite sharp on my monitor, but my vision isn't the best either ... I haven't tried a MA on this lens/body combination yet (I have just owned the lens for a few weeks) and it would probably be worth doing to convince myself that it's right. OK, I'll bite -- what's 'highlight tone priority'?

[Kerry Perkins]

Ian, Highlight Tone Priority is C.Fn II-3 in the custom function settings menu (see page 209 in the user manual). The manual says "Improves the highlight detail. The dynamic range is expanded between the standard 18% gray and bright highlights. The gradation between the grays and highlights become smoother.".

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks, Kerry. I'll have to look and see if I have it enabled (first set things up months ago and don't remember playing with that one). If not, I'm going to have to go in and try it. I can't imagine why one would leave it off if it really increases dynamic range.

EDIT:

This is from Doug Brown's 7D setup guide (http://www.deepgreenphotography.com/blog/?p=226):

Let’s move on to the orange Custom Function menus. I have ‘C.Fn I: Exposure’ set to the camera defaults. Under ‘C.Fn II: Image,’ I have ‘Highlight tone priority’ set to ‘Disable.’ It is designed to expand the dynamic range from 18% gray to the highlights. To get the benefits of highlight tone priority you must either shoot JPEG or process your RAW files in Canon’s DPP software. Programs like Lightroom ignore highlight tone priority. With HTP enabled your ISO choices becoming limited to ISO 200-6400, and you will see ‘D+’ displayed on the back LCD and in the viewfinder. Canon doesn’t reveal exactly how HTP works, but it is likely that among other things it underexposes images by a stop. The result can be more shadow noise, especially when trying to enhance shadow detail.

I use ACR/LR3/CS5 so, if what he says is true, I guess I should keep it off. I think I'll try it for myself, though.