Fem. YR Warbler/redo

Gallery: AvianPosted December 28, 20171,883 views6 comments

Female Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Glenlake Park, Decatur, Georgia.

12/14/2017, 10:33:30 AM
Canon EOS 7D Mark II EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM +1.4x III @520mm
f/8, 1/1600, ISO 800
Aperture priority, Evaluative metering
Imported into LR, processed in CC PS 2018, 61% of full frame

Other than cropping the only things I did to process this were Linear Contrast in Curves of the entire image, brightening of the entire image, and normal sharpening of the bird. Do you think the background needs any noise removal? I have stopped doing that for the sizes of images that NPN needs, per your advice, but usually my backgrounds have more in them than this one.

I had several frames, of which I've kept this and one other just because of disk space, and I decided to use this one because it shows kind of the whole bird and it seems cute to me. But with a view like this of the bird sideways and nothing else in the frame but the perch, I didn't really know how to compose it. It seemed to me that my only choice was more or less the lower right third line for the majority of the bird, which pretty much puts the eye in the center unless I leave a lot more space around the bird. Is there a better choice for composition of this kind of sideways view of a small bird? I hope that makes sense.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Please see the larger view, if possible. Thank you!

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on December 29, 2017 at 10:55 AM

The linear preset in Curves boosts contrast a bit, so I recommend using it only when the image contrast is low. It will make shadows darker and make light areas even brighter, so you need to be careful to avoid losing detail in those ends of the histogram. You've got some direct light on this warbler so it probably didn't need added contrast. As with any adjustment layer I add during processing I always toggle the layer on/off to see exactly what it is doing to the image. If the change is too strong I will reduce the opacity of the layer or delete it entirely.

I don't think the background shows too much noise, but that can be a matter of opinion. As a photographer who shot film for 25-30 years before going digital I have a hard time objecting to very low levels of noise in an image and think many current photographers are overly sensitive to it.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on December 29, 2017 at 1:10 PM

Hi Barbara: The noise is pretty much a matter of taste, I think. Since I live in the dark NorthWest, I am often at iso 1250 or above and pretty noise reduction has just become part of my routine processing-I almost never omit it, though I always check the image to see if I like the results. I do think the contrast is a little high here-the bird looks significantly darker than I am used to for this species, but it is a different subspecies on the east coast so the color could well be accurate.

The composition is pretty much where I usually end up with a side view of a bird at this size. It doesn't fit the theoretical rules very well, but it works better than the alternatives.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on December 29, 2017 at 7:41 PM

Thank you, Rich and Dennis. I wondered about the contrast and really appreciate the explanation. Here is a redo with less contrast.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on December 30, 2017 at 1:17 PM

I prefer the repost with less contrast.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on December 30, 2017 at 6:27 PM

A solid shot of this warbler Barbara, good sharpness. The angle being both a little steep and the bird facing a bit away from you isn't ideal. devil

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hansen on January 1, 2018 at 4:00 PM

Nice clean shot of this warbler Barbara. I prefer the second version, with a little less contrast. What little noise there is in the background is not a bother for me.

Registered on May 5, 2011, 161 Posts, 908 Comments