Lot to learn update, mostly for bird ID

[zulu42]

Went out with the 70-300mm again, only an incremental improvement, but next time should be good.

I was having blur problems with and without VR and basically too low of ISO and shutter speeds. I got my speeds up where they need to be... but I learned the valuable lesson: while shooting in priority modes in bright overcast, dial in +2 stops of EC. Instead, I came home with a card full of images that are approaching acceptable sharpness, but are underexposed and no good because the shadows were not recoverable.
Oh well, the light was icky anyway.


I mostly posted this hoping somebody can ID this bird for me! Any and all C&C is valued.
Thanks for looking!


All hand held VR off

1. 300mm ISO640 f/13 1/1250

And a couple of (almost acceptable, dang it) shots of a red tail hawk

2. 280mm ISO640 f/8 1/2500

3. 250mm ISO640 f/5.6 1/1250 A BIF shot needs to be sharper than this to be successful

 

[BrentC]

The first one is an American Kestrel. Nice catch.

 

[zulu42]

Awesome thanks Brent

 

[BrentC]

What mode are you shooting in? You are using too narrow an aperture. Open her up. F5.6 so you can isolate the bird. And probably also the reason your adding +2 EC. F13 is way too high.

 

[zulu42]

I was intending to shoot some landscape stuff when I saw the birds. Quickly set ISO to 640 and put it in shutter priority to chase the birds. I should have added EC in camera, it would have opened up the aperture for me.

 

[amused2deth]

The first one is an American Kestrel. Nice catch.

Lol, here in Utah, it's called a Coopers Hawk. Which is weird cause Google has different hawks that are Coopers. American Kestral is more precise.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[BrentC]

The first one is an American Kestrel. Nice catch.

Lol, here in Utah, it's called a Coopers Hawk. Which is weird cause Google has different hawks that are Coopers. American Kestral is more precise. View attachment 152462

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

That is an American Kestrel which is a falcon not a hawk. Even in Utah.

 

[DarkShadow]

Nice shots they look very acceptable to me.Your lucky,The American Kestrel is on my have to capture one list but I don't stand a chance if I never see one.Same with the snowy Owl for me.

 

[BrentC]

Yeah your shots are better than you might think. Some quick post processing can make a huge difference. Since you are ok to edit your photos I spent a couple minutes adjusting a few things. I am working with small low-res files that you uploaded, you can do better with your original files, especially if you have Raw.

1. Your Red-tail. Actually not a bad shot at all.

2. Sometimes if you don't get a very sharp shot you an see what its like inn B&W. I think this image does well in B&W.

3. You in flight. Once again with the original file you can do much better. This is uncropped. I actually like the tones in this image.

4. Here is a crop to get rid of the oof on the left and the wires.

 

[ZombiesniperJr]

The first one is an American Kestrel. Nice catch.

Lol, here in Utah, it's called a Coopers Hawk. Which is weird cause Google has different hawks that are Coopers. American Kestral is more precise. View attachment 152462

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

they are not called Cooper's hawks in Utah its still called an american kestrel cooper's hawk is a completly different species.

 

[zulu42]

@BrentC those edits are great! Thanks so much.

Any quick tips on sharpening? Did you do those in LR? I usually bring the sharpening slider up until it looks ugly, max around 50. Then bring the NR luminance up as high as I can stand it, maybe 35 max. A little clarity slider and maybe a touch of dehaze seems to sharpen as well. I try not to do too much, at some point the image starts looking fake.

I got some decent shots of a great blue heron today, Anxious to show a little more progress!

Thanks again!

 

[amused2deth]

The first one is an American Kestrel. Nice catch.

Lol, here in Utah, it's called a Coopers Hawk. Which is weird cause Google has different hawks that are Coopers. American Kestral is more precise. View attachment 152462

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

they are not called Cooper's hawks in Utah its still called an american kestrel cooper's hawk is a completly different species.

I'm seeing that now. The website I went to after my first shot called them a Coopers Hawk plus a few of the images on Google. But now I'm here so I'm sure I can learn a lot more.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[BrentC]

@BrentC those edits are great! Thanks so much.

Any quick tips on sharpening? Did you do those in LR? I usually bring the sharpening slider up until it looks ugly, max around 50. Then bring the NR luminance up as high as I can stand it, maybe 35 max. A little clarity slider and maybe a touch of dehaze seems to sharpen as well. I try not to do too much, at some point the image starts looking fake.

I got some decent shots of a great blue heron today, Anxious to show a little more progress!

Thanks again!

Where these images already processed in LR before you posted? First of all I don't consider myself an expert in LR and post processing. There are a lot of people on here who are much better. I still have lots to learn myself.
Someone may correct me if I got anything wrong here. First I wouldn't automatically sharpen and NR your photos. Not all photos need it so it should not be automatic. Now if you do have to adjust them you need to balance things. High NR will lose sharpness and high sharpness will lose NR. So increasing both dramatically can start cancelling each other out and also lower your IQ. Sometimes a sharp picture with noise is better.

For the edits I did on your photos, and remember that what I adjusted would probably be different if I had the original files, what made the most impact are adjustments other than sharpness and NR. Although on the perched hawk I did 40 Sharpness, but I think I could have left that at the default 25. No NR at all. The in flight I increased the sharpening and NR to 18.
The settings that made the most difference was correcting WB, increase saturation (colours were a little washed out, +7 in flight, +20 perched), set Medium Contract in curves, increase contrast a bit on the perched hawk (+12) and decreased contrast (-18) on the in flight hawk. Also adjust blacks and whites.

Are you shooting Raw or jpeg?

 

[zulu42]

Thanks very much for taking the time for that, Brent.

I shoot raw, and there was some processing in LR, yes. I will go back and compare what I did to your notes.

 

[BrentC]

Thanks very much for taking the time for that, Brent.

I shoot raw, and there was some processing in LR, yes. I will go back and compare what I did to your notes.

Those photos look like what the Raw image may look like with no processing. Remember you have to make those adjustments that your camera would do if your shooting jpeg.

These are the steps I follow to adjust just the basic settings and are what I would consider the minimum when editing Raw:

1. Correct exposure if needed
2. Correct WB
3. Adjust blacks, whites, highlights and shadows if needed.
4. saturation, vibrance and clarity if needed
5. Sharpness and NR if needed.

And Youtube is your friend if you don't know how to do something and to learn new stuff. There is just as much a learning curve in processing images as taking them. I am much better now than I used to be but still manage to screw up my editing.