Lazuli Bunting

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
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Lazuli Bunting
Lazuli Bunting855×1197 477 KB

What a pleasant shock and surprise to see this bird in my yard in NE Oklahoma. He is some 400 miles east of his normal migration route which passes through the Oklahoma panhandle. I wish I could have caught him in a less cluttered environment, but it is what it is. Perhaps he’ll stick around for more photo ops.

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Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Canon 60D, Canon 70-300 IS USM zoom, f/8, 1/1000 sec., ISO 2000, Hand Held. Shot in low light, heavy overcast. Processed in ACR for exposure and sharpness. Topaz De-noise applied.

1 Like
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Very nice to have a surprise like this show up in your yard. Very good job on the color and exposure. Not much you can do about where the bird decides to land. It appears you made every effort to get clean shot. This looks like a fairly large crop and a high ISO leads to some image quality issues. But I find it enjoyable to look at.

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I agree this isn’t the best image I’ve ever taken. I suspected there would be issues. But I had to have this shot!

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I think the setting is fine, and natural-looking, and the image is worth optimizing as best as it can be. I would clone out the large branch above the bird and the small ones to the right of it.

There are issues with NR and sharpening that I suspect could be improved. Is it a big crop? Can you give your settings in ACR? Did you go to PS for denoise?

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I don’t know what caused it, but you actually ended up with a rather painterly looking bird here. It almost reminds me of a field guide illustration since it lacks feather texture. I do think I’d eliminate that bright tan patch just over the head. If you can give more detail someone may be able to help with the processing issues.

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Hi @Diane_Miller . Thanks for your comments. It was a very large crop - more than I would normally consider. I don’t recall my exact settings in ACR, but I always start with ‘Auto’, then make adjustments from there, and make my first sharpening attempt there. NR was via Topaz De-noise, albeit at a very low setting.

Hey @Dennis_Plank. I think it was just a low quality image from the start, and the large crop didn’t help. I might work on it and try other adjustments, but I don’t think it’s ever going to be a really good image.

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Hi Terry, nice find and catch! Image quality issues are mentioned above but this is great specimen to look at.

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Thanks, Allen. Yeah, I knew it wasn’t a great image, but that bird…