American Oystercatcher Display

[Melissa Groo]

Taken in Feb out with James Shadle on Alafia Banks in Tampa Bay. Cropped about 30%.

Canon 7D
500mm f/4
Gitzo 3530LS tripod, Wimberley full head
Standing in water.

1/1600 sec
f/8.0
ISO 400

All C and C greatly welcome and appreciated.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Melissa, I like the similar poses, together with the low perspective. I just love the colours on these guys. I feel you may have added too much contrast in the image.

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks for the feedback, Stuart. I do tend to be heavyhanded on contrast at times. Have reworked it with less contrast here, hope it's more appealing.

[Dave Leroy]

I really like the poses of the birds and nice low shooting angle.

If mine I would crop out most of the oof band at bottom.

I am not sure what to say about the processing but agree it looks a bit too contrasty for me.

Having both birds with same raised foot is a very nice touch.

Dave

[Humberto Ramos]

Hi Melissa,
The head angle and the BG is great, in my monitor I still see in the image some low "definition", don´t know if it's still the contrast...
Have you made some "big" crop?

[Melissa Groo]

It's about a 30% crop, Humberto, so it's not too huge. Do you mean the whites are lacking detail? Thanks for looking.

[Humberto Ramos]

It's about a 30% crop, Humberto, so it's not too huge. Do you mean the whites are lacking detail? Thanks for looking.

No, what I see is some pixels in the head and neck, but the monitor where I am right now its not calibrated... It could be of my monitor...

[Levina de Ruijter]

Very nice image, Melissa. Love the looks of these birds and the synchronicity of the poses is great.
I see the pixels Humberto is talking about, too. It's like a thin halo around some parts of the bird. Usually the result of sharpening. Did you apply a High Pass Filter maybe for sharpening?

[Tom Redd]

Melissa, beautiful shot, I like the blue BG. I do prefer the decreased contrast in the repost.

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks for all the feedback. Levina, I did a round of Smart Sharpening. Maybe I'll work on the pic again and get it to the same place without the sharpening (it probably didn't need it much, it was pretty sharp to begin with). Maybe that will get rid of the artifacts.

[Don Lacy]

Melissa, Really like the pose and you did a good job with the harsh lighting. What were the values you used when sharpening and did you do it on a separate layer.

[Melissa Groo]

Melissa, Really like the pose and you did a good job with the harsh lighting. What were the values you used when sharpening and did you do it on a separate layer.

Thanks Don. The values in SS were: Amount 93; Radius: 0.8. Please let me know if I'm off base here. And no, not done on a separate layer. Do you mean via a Contrast Mask as Artie recommends? I need to learn how to do that...

[Don Lacy]

Thanks Don. The values in SS were: Amount 93; Radius: 0.8. Please let me know if I'm off base here. And no, not done on a separate layer. Do you mean via a Contrast Mask as Artie recommends? I need to learn how to do that...

The amount and radius are a little high I usually go with amount around 50 and a radius around .4 depending on the type of feather detail. Here is my sharpening routine after sizing for the web I flatten all layers then copy the BG layer to run the smart sharpen filter on I will usually use a selection and layer mask to confine the sharpening to the subject only. The finale step is to change the blending mode on the layer from normal to luminosity which helps eliminate halos. Try resharpening it with lower values.

[Gary Esman]

Hi Melissa, love the repost. excellent shot.

Gary.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Love the repost .

[Humberto Ramos]

I also use values of sharpenning for this size of image from 50 - 0.4 to 60- 0.5, not more, and normaly I make a mask on a second layer..

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks for the guidance Don and Humberto, will try again with those values.
Thanks for looking and for the feedback, all!

[Levina de Ruijter]

Melissa, I use Smart Sharpen as well, but never more than 0,3 radius. The amount differs. It's usually somewhere between 40-80, but on occasion I may go higher. It depends on the image. And I often jump the part that needs to be sharpened to a separate layer to avoid exactly the kind of sharpening halos that show in your image.

Oh, and I like the repost a lot!

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks Levina!