Tree Swallow In Flight

[Norm Dulak]

Nikon D7000 w/Nikkor 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6 vrII lens @ 300mm, hand held
ISO Equivalent 800; f/7.1, 1/1,600 sec.
Matrix Metering +0.67
PP: Topaz DeNoise 4; PS CS5 cropping, levels and curves

Working these little speed demons in flight is excellent practice that everyone should try. But thank goodness the many duds waste electrons, and not film!

All C&C are welcome.

Norm

[Tony Whitehead]

Great result, Norm. These little speedsters are a real challenge. Light gear as you used here is a good choice.

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent, this is a really tough bird to get in flight...might sharpen the head a bit more. well done

[Pieter de Waal]

Great image Norm, very sharp at that SS. Good detail in the whites and love the feather detail in the tail and birds right wing.

[Randy Stout]

Norm:

Excellent pose, like the green BG, exposure.
Just a little soft on the head.

Cheers

Randy

[Ofer Levy]

Nice pose captured. A bit soft as shutter speed is a bit low for this action IMO. Would aslo move the bird a bit more to the right and up. Here is a repost with the correct colour space - sRGB so you can see the colour of the sky is different to how it looks in your original.
Cheers,
Ofer

[Jim Crosswell]

I liked the fanned tail feathers and complimentary BG. I agree with the suggestions of sharpening the head. Well done Norm!

[Stu Bowie]

Not an easy character to capture in flight, so well done here. I like the flight angle and wing spread, and well placed in the frame.

[Norm Dulak]

Nice pose captured. A bit soft as shutter speed is a bit low for this action IMO. Would aslo move the bird a bit more to the right and up. Here is a repost with the correct colour space - sRGB so you can see the colour of the sky is different to how it looks in your original.
Cheers,
Ofer

Thanks Ofer; I really appreciate your concern for the proper color space. However you may rest assured that I always post sRGB images.

I can say that, because on the "Save for Web and Devices" screen provided by my Photoshop CS5 software there is a checkbox labeled "Convert to sRGB." That box is always checked on my computer, and thus conversion to sRGB always occurs automatically for images that I post.

But you are right that conversion to sRGB for web posting (or projector use) is important, and if your software won't do it automatically, you must do it manually.

In view of what I've said above, I'm not certain how you purport to have done yet another sRGB conversion and somehow gotten a different result with my image. :2
Anyway, thanks again for your comments.

[Norm Dulak]

Thanks everyone for your comments! If I print this image or send it on the internet again I will make sure that the bird's head is properly sharpened!

Norm

[Doug Brown]

A challenging subject nicely captured! Agree about the additional sharpening. FYI your original image was saved in Adobe RGB and Ofer's repost was saved in sRGB; that said, I can't see any color differences between the two images.

[Steven Kersting]

Converting to Srgb is not enough to ensure correct color display in web browsers.....You also need to include the Srgb tag in the Exif header. To do this in the CS5 "save for web" (and save as) dialogue there is a little checkbox to "embed color profile".

Most of the browsers handle "unknown" color space differently, even if it is actually Srgb.

BTW, excellent capture!

[Norm Dulak]

Converting to Srgb is not enough to ensure correct color display in web browsers.....You also need to include the Srgb tag in the Exif header. To do this in the CS5 "save for web" (and save as) dialogue there is a little checkbox to "embed color profile".

Most of the browsers handle "unknown" color space differently, even if it is actually Srgb.

BTW, excellent capture!

Thanks Steve, but now I'm totally confused. I didn't check the "embed color profile" box. But I've opened my posted image in PS CS5 and selected Edit > Convert To Profile. And the resulting screen indicates that my Source Space Profile is the expected sRGB IEC61966-2.1.

So despite my not having checked the "embed color profile" box, I can't see a problem! Anyway, I will check that box in the future, to see whether it makes a difference in how others perceive my image.

[Doug Brown]

Here's what my computer shows when I open your posted image:



Not exactly sure why there's a discrepancy. Anyone have any ideas?

[Steven Kersting]

That's the issue w/ web browsers...You won't usually see it w/ PS or another image editing program.
Different web browsers have different "default behaviors" (some can be changed) as well as different OS's when dealing w/ "unknown" color space. Many default to assigning Srgb, some will assign Adobe Rgb, some will assign monitor colorspace.

Additionally, your editing program will assign a "default" colorspace upon opening an "unknown". I work in ProPhoto usually and unknowns are opened w/ that. (set in "edit>color settings")

If you use ACR to open the file initially it will assign a "new color profile" in it's process (settings to be assigned can be seen at bottom of ACR window) so you could open anything and it would show Srgb as the color space once in PS.

[Norm Dulak]

That's the issue w/ web browsers...You won't usually see it w/ PS or another image editing program.
Different web browsers have different "default behaviors" (some can be changed) as well as different OS's when dealing w/ "unknown" color space. Many default to assigning Srgb, some will assign Adobe Rgb, some will assign monitor colorspace.

Additionally, your editing program will assign a "default" colorspace upon opening an "unknown". I work in ProPhoto usually and unknowns are opened w/ that. (set in "edit>color settings")

If you use ACR to open the file initially it will assign a "new color profile" in it's process (settings to be assigned can be seen at bottom of ACR window) so you could open anything and it would show Srgb as the color space once in PS.

Steve.

That explains why the image that I converted to the sRGB color space, uploaded to BPN, and later confirmed with my v 5.0.5 Safari browser was still in the sRGB color space, was evaluated by Ofer and Doug as being instead in the RGB color space.

Now, the question is what can be done about it? Or does it really matter?

Norm

[Tony Whitehead]

The way I deal with this is to convert the image to sRGB (Edit/Convert to profile), resize and then Save as jpg with a compression to achieve the size limit required. This image has no colour space tagged (File/File info/Camera data) so is being assigned the workspace default of the Photoshop it is being opened in (Adobe RGB in Ofer and Doug's case).

[Steven Kersting]

Steve.

That explains why the image that I converted to the sRGB color space, uploaded to BPN, and later confirmed with my v 5.0.5 Safari browser was still in the sRGB color space, was evaluated by Ofer and Doug as being instead in the RGB color space.

Now, the question is what can be done about it? Or does it really matter?

Norm

In PS save dialogues there is a checkbox for "embed color space"..check that and problem solved. Every browser and program will open it with the embedded color space (but ACR might still want to change it if not careful)

BTW, I think it matters. You'll never have full control of how others see your work on the web, but why give up the control you do have...especially if asking for critique.

[Norm Dulak]

The way I deal with this is to convert the image to sRGB (Edit/Convert to profile), resize and then Save as jpg with a compression to achieve the size limit required. This image has no colour space tagged (File/File info/Camera data) so is being assigned the workspace default of the Photoshop it is being opened in (Adobe RGB in Ofer and Doug's case).

Thanks Tony. That's essentially what I've done, but using the Save for Web and Devises feature of CS5. All of the things you've mentioned are set in that way, since I haven't checked the Embed Color Space box. But based upon what Steve has said, checking that box may be a better idea!!

In that way, the default characteristics of various browsers should be irrelevant.

Norm

[Doug Brown]

Thanks for the explanation. I always check the Embed Color Space option in the Save for Web dialog.

[Steven Kersting]

Thanks Tony. That's essentially what I've done, but using the Save for Web and Devises feature of CS5. All of the things you've mentioned are set in that way, since I haven't checked the Embed Color Space box. But based upon what Steve has said, checking that box may be a better idea!!

In that way, the default characteristics of various browsers should be irrelevant.

Norm

Not "a better idea", but rather "the last step"....You still have to set the file's color space to Srgb (most browsers won't handle Adobe/Pro photo/ etc)

I probably see these issues much more than most since I tend to use color managed browsers (Firefox, Safari)...If you use IE, everything is Srgb all the time...