Another Pine Siskin

Gallery: AvianPosted November 29, 2017170 views4 comments

Or it could be the same one.

I need to figure out the DxO software. I tried it again on this one and instead of controlling the noise, I seemed to end up with a lot of it. I'm sure it's operator error, but I went back and did it my old way, using Neat Image after exporting to Photoshop to handle it.

I also cloned out a stub sticking out of the side of the perch below the bird-hopefully it's not too obvious.

7Dii, Sigma 150-600 C @ 421 mm, Jobu Gimbal on blind window, f/9, 1/200, iso 1600 (the light was coming and going so I decided to up the iso), aperture priority, pattern metering, -1 EV. Processed in LR & PS CC. Cropped to 15.8 MP before resizing. Taken at 9:48 am on November 27th.

Your comments and critiques are always appreciated.

Thanks,

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on November 29, 2017 at 10:29 PM

Dennis, I feel like the 7Dii is similar to the D500. Here is what I have chosen as the limiting factor: I do NR in Lightroom up to 2500 ISO. After that, it is DxO. The default on NR there is Fast, HQ. I use the PRIME setting instead. I do nothing else in DxO, unless I think I can pick up a little detail with a minor tweak with a micro contrast adjustment. I only use DxO on RAW images and export it back to LR as a DNG file. Conservatively, I use a setting for NR (in the DxO module} of between 30% and 50%.

Steve Schoen is doing this as well and has had some success, even up to ISO 5000. You might check with him and pick his brains. I think though that the guiding principal is like everything else in post processing: don't strain the resource.

Nice image of the Pine Siskin. I can't see where the cloning took place, so you must have done it right. The only nit I have is the tail feathers sticking up over the bird's shoulder. I feel like that is natural. but I would have been tempted to clone them out.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Ivan Fildishev on November 30, 2017 at 10:36 AM

Very nice image indeed! I love the way it is split into two parts - the background on the left, the tree on the right and
the bird seems like it divides them. Also, I like the bokeh of the Sigma. And I am amazed you could achieve such a nice image at this high ISO. I usually don't go above 800 - but that is my preference... Thanks for sharing!
Regards,
Ivan

Registered on November 28, 2017, 4 Posts, 8 Comments

Comment posted by David Schoen on November 30, 2017 at 5:35 PM

Colors in this are quite good and really pop well. There is a nice contrast between the greens and the browns. I like the perch and the pose.

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Moreau on November 30, 2017 at 8:02 PM

Dennis, I like this, and I think the centered comp works well with the almost half and half tree to background. It sounds like you have the room based on the amount of crop you made, so I might crop just a little differently to get rid of the bit of background peeking through in the URC. I think Phil's suggestion to clone the tail feathers is a good one as well.

Registered on April 21, 2015, 64 Posts, 584 Comments