Bird shots with my new 300 f/4: Take 2, please critique!!!

[Brendan7]

For some reason the photo did not show up.

I think you need to learn how to post process your images.

Right. What exactly do you think needs to be applied? Keep in mind I do not have Photoshop, Lightroom, etc. (but i do have DPP, of course)


brendan

[btaylor]

Brendan, I'll put this in a way that doesn't sound quiteso abrupt. [:O]


I think your images are great but they could benefit from a little sharpening in post. I haven't used DPP for a while (I use ACR, Lightroom and Photoshop for my adjustments) but from memory you can sharpen your images in there. Just remember to keep the radius somewhere between 0.1 and 0.5 otherwise you can get a lot of fringing on the edges. Experiment with it until you're happy.


Over sharpening can lead to extra artifacts as you can see in the background of John's modified image of yours where the background blur isn't as smooth as the original.


The level of colours are spot on if you ask me. I wouldn't bother increasing the saturation as it's a bit overbearing.


If you do end up having access tophotoshop the smart sharpen filter is the way to go.


Cheers, Ben.

[ddt0725]

Over sharpening can lead to extra artifacts as you can see in the background of John's modified image of yours where the background blur isn't as smooth as the original.

Maybe I'm just old school but I find the original unaltered natural photo of today's bird and the backgroundmuch more pleasing than the photoshopped version. Just my opinion.
Denise

[Brendan7]

What did you use to sharpen it?


brendan

[btaylor]

Maybe I'm just old school but I find the original unaltered natural photo of today's bird and the backgroundmuch more pleasing than the photoshopped version. Just my opinion.
Denise
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I agree entirely, maybemy wording was a bit confusing sorry. I think the original has fantastic background blur and applying too much sharpening can have an adverse affect on it.


Some sharpening, however, can accentuate the details in the bird's feathers etc so it's a fine line between a good amount of sharpening and too much.

[Fast Glass]

Wow, it's amazing how many people posted in just a few hours.


I used DPP, all I did was some levels and a slight tone curve. I just barely increased the saturation. When I saved in Jpeg it induced very bad artifacts, the image before saving it did not have any artifacts. I corected the nuthatch's color to be more neutrual and not so blue as in the original.


John.