Taken in Costa Rica in 2019. Taking pictures in Costa Rica is quite difficult because of the lighting challenge. Many of the birds are in the middle of the canopy which limits good backgrounds sometimes. Light is generally pretty poor or filtered. While that is good for eliminating shadows for the most part, high ISO is a requirement. A fill flash is also very helpful. There are lots of trade-offs but it is well worth it.
Specific Feedback Requested
The only sharpening applied on this image came from Topaz D noise. Does it look too sharp? Saturation okay?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
ISO 2000, 500 mm PF, F8, 1250th, fill flash, 50% of full frame
3 Likes
I did not know there was a Blue Gray Tanager, it is a very nice color combination. I don’t think the bird is over sharpened. I like the fine crisp feather lines. The various shades of turquoise in the wing are interesting and different, I would not say over saturated . I might try de-saturating the back ground greens into a softer shade of green though.
The feather detail looks naturally sharp. Looks as if you handled the lighting well. Nice one.
Great work, David - love the colours and the setting. I have seen them in Brazil, from a distance they seem among the more dull-coloured birds there, but when properly lit (and photographed like you did) they are little gems ! Well done. Hans
I don’t know the bird but it feels a bit overexposed. Maybe as @Stephen_Stanton suggested, the BG might be desaturated (or lightened) a bit. The fine feathers do look oversharpened for me. It looks like an excellent capture that wouldn’t need any extra sharpening. I sometimes find it difficult to control the sharpening that the various algorithms in Topaz Denoise do.
