Post your best bird shots!

[Joel Eade]

Beautiful Joel! So, I assume you have applied the same technique to a certain degree as Bob on the flying birds?

Thanks Denise, yes I did.

In general I do the following (more or less depending on if I think the image needs it)

1. Convert from RAW using ACR where I adjust color temp, exposure, recovery, blacks, clarity usually

2. Crop the image and remove any elements needed, dodge or burn any areas if needed (like brightening a bird's eye)

3. Very minimal noise reduction (if needed) on the entire image

4. Levels adjustment layer

5. Selective color adjustment layer or sometimes Nik Color Efex pro

6. Noise reduction, stronger this time, on the BG only

7. Sharpen the image to taste, usually using Topaz In Focus

8. Save a copy as 8 bit TIFF

9. Reduce size to 1000 pixels wide

10. Sharpen with USM at 500% 0.2 pixels 7 threshhold (I may do this 2 or 3 times, not always)

11. Save as jpeg, adjust quality level so image is less 250 kb in size.


These are my basic steps on almost all my images.

I pick out the best RAW images so that each step only requires small adjustments.

[ddt0725]

Thanks, Joel! I'll have to try it out on a few soon! I tried the trial of NIK Color Efex Pro awhile ago and really liked it.

Not a great shot but he posed nicely for it ...


IMG_9900_1 by Denise Trocio, on Flickr

[Joel Eade]

Not a great shot but he posed nicely for it ...

IMG_9900_1 by Denise Trocio, on Flickr

I agree, it's really tough to keep the reds form over-exposing with DSLR's. You were able to get pretty good detail in the reds on this one.

[Joel Eade]

I was lucky to be able to borrow a 1DMKIV for my trip to visit Bob Williams, I will have to return it soon so I am trying it out on my backyard birds before it goes....this was taken with the 500mm f/4L and the 1.4TC

[bob williams]

Joel, Seems to be a great shot as usual, unfortunately, I can't really tell. This image seems to be way too soft as compared to your normal submissions, So I am guessing it's the website. I am curious if others are finding thier shots less than what they uploaded---Perhaps an issue Bryan can discuss with the forum providers. Im just interested in your thoughts on this, or is it just me???

[DavidEccleston]

Looks sharp to me. The head feathers look like they could be soft, but if you look at the breast feathers each pixel is well defined, so I think that's just the way the head looks.

When uploading to the site, yes, the images become soft.

When linking from flickr, or other sites, the image will be perfect, unless the image is oversized. For oversized images, based on what I saw on the last assignment thread, the forum will tell your browser to resize it, which will probably look softer than desired. For massive full sized images being scaled down to forum sizes, it will take forever to download, and you make Google Chrome cry. Whenever they're on screen the scrolling becomes very slow and jerky.

[JJphoto]

slower shutter speed could cause the softness of the head feather due to fast movement of the birds head, but just guessing.

[Joel Eade]

I am linking my submissions from my Zenfolio acount.

The images I upload there are full size TIFF files usually at least 3300 to 3800 pixels wide and around 20-22 mB in size.

I use TIFF in case I need to edit and re-save there will be no degradation in quality.

I suspect linking the URL results in a poor conversion to a smaller JPEG which loses sharpness in the process.

I am posting directly a small JPEG (800 pixels tall) to this reply to see if it looks better.

[Kayaker72]

Caught this guy near a bird feeder at work....

[HDNitehawk]

I am posting directly a small JPEG (800 pixels tall) to this reply to see if it looks better.

Joel; if this is the same bird you posted earlier, it does not look better, at least on my end. I thought your first post of this bird was very sharp.