The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Oak trees retain their leaves throughout the winter and they provided some warmth to the BG in this photo. Wet snow was sticking to everything and my viewfinder was festooned with snow and water drops.
Technical Details
Z9 400mm (1/1250 sec. at f5.0, ISO 2500) Topaz DeNoise AI, crop for comp, Levels, Reduction in Magentas with Hue & saturation, Microcontrast enhancement…Jim
Gorgeous!! The subtle BG color is a wonderful extra touch, and the arrangement of branches and location of the bird in the frame is so nice! I love the pose and the bits of snow on the branches. Excellent art – Robert Bateman would be jealous!
I’m curious which model you used, and if it was with the default settings? I’m curious because I zoomed in to enjoy the details and saw an artifact that I sometimes get, of areas where there appears to be less NR. The areas are basically along the level of the bird, both left and right, surrounding some of the branches. But they appear in vaguely shaped areas, not evenly across the frame. They are most obvious around the branches that exit the left and right edges of the frame. When I see this I’ve found that changing models will usually improve things, but I haven’t been careful to document it. It’s something that will hopefully be improved…
Thank you @Diane_Miller . Bateman is one of my favorite painters and I rarely do a scene like this. The Z9 is excellent with noise at high ISO’s, but I think that Topaz DeNoise AI is at fault here. I find that noise suppression is reduced around sharper objects in the frame. I will look into this…Jim
I love this image, Jim - the color palette is wonderful complement to the cardinal, and the composition is spot-on. Nice of the cardinal to turn its head for you to get that wonderful profile and catchlight! I enlarged the image after reading @Diane_Miller 's comment and saw what she was talking about. Now I must be more careful in looking at my own Topaz DeNoise images in case that shows up. Hoping a mode change will fix that…
Hi @Jim_Zablotny! A beautifully captured image! I love birds, but am pretty awful at capturing them. Congrats on this! The composition works well. Love the soft snow flakes.
I see what @Diane_Miller and @brenda_tharp are referring to in terms of noise. (I’ll have to check some of my own images for that issue.) I hope you can resolve that with a different model. A couple of other thoughts: 1) the soft color in the background adds depth to the image, but I’d like to suggest that you tone it down just a bit since (IMHO) it competes with the cardinal. Also, after you finish with Denoise Ai, suggest that you then use Sharpen Ai to sharpen the bird’s eye. You can do that in PS with an inverse mask so all you deal with is the eye. It can also be done in LR with masking. Thanks for the inspiration!
I really like this image, and it’s something for me to aspire to. I like the sweep of the branches, the subtle textures in the background from the tree and the snow, and of course the focus on the bird complete with the catchlight.
Jim, this is a beauty. It captures the bird, the snow and the tree beautifully. I think the background coordinates very well with Mr. Cardinal and does create a nice mix of cold and warm.
Seconding all the comments about this being a lovely composition and capture!
I didn’t notice the potential denoise artefacts, but I thought the focus was a little on the near side, as the feathers on the back of the cardinal look a lot sharper to me than the eye does. Maybe that is a consequence of the denoise & I just don’t know enough to identify it as such.
(a little disclaimer - I’m a beginner, and very new to NPN )
Thank you @Diane_Miller , @mdjnewman , @Susanna_Euston , @Mark_Seaver , @karlag , @brenda_tharp for your critiques. I re-edited the image with a newer version of Topaz DeNoise AI with both models and no improvement regarding the artifacts. I updated my version of Lightroom Classic and used the DeNoise feature at very conservative settings. Still some noise, but it is fine and consistent throughout the entire image. It looks like I will move away from Topaz DeNoise AI for now. …Jim
I enlarged the image after reading