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Thread: Tricolored Heron

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    Default Tricolored Heron

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    I took this image during a trip to Dauphin Island, AL earlier this year for the spring migration. It was my first time to see the Tricolored Heron and I thought he was such a beautiful bird!
    Nikon d7000 200-400 +1.4 TC @ 500mm, f5.6, 1/800, ISO 500
    PP: slight crop, contrast adjustment, sharpening, and cloned out some oof twigs in the upper right corner

    C/C on how to improve this image are appreciated! Thanks!

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Hi Emily,

    I saw this picture in your view finder when you took it and it was a great shot but something has happened in your PP work. I am not sure what it is and hopefully the experts will chime in.
    How are you sharpening your pictures? You should be sharpening the JPEG at the output size of 1024 x 800 pixels. The way Artie suggests, is to select the bird with lasso or mask , then go to Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask and set the pixel radius to 0.3 and the amount anywhere from 125-225, then hit OK.
    Do you have a bit more room at the bottom for the virtual feet? Also, I might tweak the WB and warm it up a little bit as there is a blue cast to the shot.
    The head angle police will not like the HA but I like it.
    Your composition is excellent. A nice clean BG as well.
    Gail

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    hey Gail, thanks for your input! re: sharpening - are you saying it is not sharp enough or looks overly sharpened? I sharpened this after cropping down to the jpeg size you mentioned and to my eye it looks pretty sharp. I'll try warming it even more - i selected the whites and warmed them specifically and if you look at them alone I don't think they are overly blue. Still, there is A LOT of blue going on in this picture!

    Here is a redo: I warmed the whole thing which makes the bird more grey than blue, but maybe that is how he is supposed to look? It's been awhile since that trip and I've slept since then ;-) I also added some canvas below and resharpened, though to me it is looking a bit overly sharp. I have always sharpened using USM, and at times I'll use a high pass filter or the smart sharpen method depending on the image (I've always thought the high pass works best for architecture and USM best for people and animals). Hmm.. let me know if this is any better or if I should just start from scratch!

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    Lifetime Member gail bisson's Avatar
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    Well,
    I like the OP better than the re-post although I like that you added canvas down below on the re-post and I would add that to the OP. So, bottom line is, I don't know what to suggest to improve it. I think you should wait for the real experts comments! All I know is that this was a great shot in camera but it didn't translate as well on the web...
    Gail

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    Original post was way better.... For the image in pane 1 the best thing that you could have done was to have gotten down to the bird's level with the whole bird parallel to the back of the camera.... Even in Pane 1 image quality looks suspect.... Can you post the full frame original with nothing done to it?
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    Hi Artie, thanks so much for weighing in and I appreciate your constructive comments! Here is the original, I believe with nothing done to it except that it has been resized for the web (had to go through the archives to find this one as I have several versions saved):

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    Hi Emily, YAW. When I market Digital Basics one of my strongest pitches is that many folks take good images and ruin them in Photoshop. That is what you have done here (though I am not sure how). You can see how quickly dof falls off as the body angles away from the head. I am gonna try a simple quick one on your ORIG. Be back in a few .
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

    BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.

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    Here's my first try with a Gaussian Blur on the grasses (that I do not hate) and a few basics....
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

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    And then a cleaner version with a flopped Quick Mask. The key: no cropping and minimal processing....
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

    BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.

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    WOW!! I love this. You took the words out of my mouth in your post yesterday - as I found the original I thought, hmmm...it looks better with a little less done to it! I had been trying to follow some critiques I got on a different post, and I think the edit was all wrong for this image. Fantastic job and once again, thanks so very much for your help! I just got my copy of your digital basics and am waiting for your Birds as Art books to come in the mail :-)

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    Quote Originally Posted by Emily Norman View Post
    WOW!! I love this. You took the words out of my mouth in your post yesterday - as I found the original I thought, hmmm...it looks better with a little less done to it! I had been trying to follow some critiques I got on a different post, and I think the edit was all wrong for this image. Fantastic job and once again, thanks so very much for your help! I just got my copy of your digital basics and am waiting for your Birds as Art books to come in the mail :-)
    and thanks for your kind words. I signed and personalized your copy of ABP yesterday and the two-book combo is either on its way to you now or will be on Monday. Thanks a stack for your order. I will be expecting your images to get stronger week by week!
    BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.

    BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.

    Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,

    E-mail me at samandmayasgrandpa@att.net.










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