My Quest, Pt III

[PJM]

Getting closer. I finally found her within reasonable shooting distance, I thought, about 25 meters away. I'm not thrilled with the image quality. They seem a bit soft to me and I'm not sure why. A topic for another day perhaps. Anyway, here she is hunkered down against the wind.

Snowy-3 by Peter Martin, on Flickr

Snowy-2 by Peter Martin, on Flickr

Snowy by Peter Martin, on Flickr

 

[K9Kirk]

Nice set. Are these hand held?

 

[Winona]

Nice. Hoping to see one this year. Unfortunately, the one in the area was found distressed and later died. It did receive medical care.

 

[nokk]

there's one in my state now and we usually don't get them. this might be the year for an irruption.

 

[SquarePeg]

Nicely spotted! Looks like he (she?) is tired. It does look a bit soft. Settings? Equipment? Tripod? If you were using a long zoom it could be camera shake from the wind. Since it says ok to edit, I ran the first one through the free Remini photo app just to see how it works with feathers. Not bad but a bit over sharpened - it works better with portraits. I think Topaz AI Sharpen would probably do a better job if used with a raw file. I hope you don’t mind, I will delete the post if you want. M

 

[Space Face]

No 2 for me for composition and expression.

 

[Space Face]

PS:

The edit does make it a tad crisper.

 

[PJM]

Nice set. Are these hand held?

Nicely spotted! Looks like he (she?) is tired. It does look a bit soft. Settings? Equipment? Tripod? If you were using a long zoom it could be camera shake from the wind. Since it says ok to edit, I ran the first one through the free Remini photo app just to see how it works with feathers. Not bad but a bit over sharpened - it works better with portraits. I think Topaz AI Sharpen would probably do a better job if used with a raw file. I hope you don’t mind, I will delete the post if you want. M

View attachment 202562

Yes, I was using a tripod, although it might be a bit underrated for the task. I'm looking for a better one. It was a bit windy and I did notice some small vibrations looking through the viewfinder.

Nikor 200-500mm zoom @500mm attached to a D5600. 1/2500sec, f/7.1, ISO 400
VR Off
AF-C, 39 points (in case she decided to take off, or something else flew by)
Lens in Sport Mode.

I do not mind your editing it at all. It does look a bit sharper. I'll have to check those tools out.

 

[PJM]

Nice. Hoping to see one this year. Unfortunately, the one in the area was found distressed and later died. It did receive medical care.

Thanks. They are a beautiful creature. I hope you get to see one.

there's one in my state now and we usually don't get them. this might be the year for an irruption.

Good luck. Be sure to post if you find one.

No 2 for me for composition and expression.

Thanks. I appreciate your feedback.

 

[SquarePeg]

Nice set. Are these hand held?

Nicely spotted! Looks like he (she?) is tired. It does look a bit soft. Settings? Equipment? Tripod? If you were using a long zoom it could be camera shake from the wind. Since it says ok to edit, I ran the first one through the free Remini photo app just to see how it works with feathers. Not bad but a bit over sharpened - it works better with portraits. I think Topaz AI Sharpen would probably do a better job if used with a raw file. I hope you don’t mind, I will delete the post if you want. M

View attachment 202562

Yes, I was using a tripod, although it might be a bit underrated for the task. I'm looking for a better one. It was a bit windy and I did notice some small vibrations looking through the viewfinder.

Nikor 200-500mm zoom @500mm attached to a D5600. 1/2500sec, f/7.1, ISO 400
VR Off
AF-C, 39 points (in case she decided to take off, or something else flew by)
Lens in Sport Mode.

I do not mind your editing it at all. It does look a bit sharper. I'll have to check those tools out.

I’m not a birder but I’ve tried it a few times - your settings certainly seem on the money so probably the tripod is the issue. I had similar results with my original cheapish tripod whenever it was windy. I could see the movement in live view. Weighing it down with my heavy camera bag helped a bit but not fully. Blocking the wind with my body helped a bit as well.