Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This was taken on a field trip with the local Audubon club in February 2024. We saw 5 merlins that day (which was really unusual, they said they’re lucky to see any at all in that area) and this was the first I photographed.
Specific Feedback
I trimmed out many branches and left these to kind of frame the bird. I’m not sure about the cropping. The blue sky is boring, but I didn’t know if there was anything I could do about it. I’m happy with the bird.
Technical Details
Fuji X-H2S, 1/1600s, f/7.6, ISO 320, 485mm, 1.4 teleconverter on a 100-400mm lens
Hi Debbie, really nice to see a Merlin - a tough bird to come by. I like the pose with good view of the eye and beak. The blue sky is fine with me. At full size, the bird seems rather soft and I see halos around some of the branches. You could share some about post processing if you wished.
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@Allen_Sparks Thanks Allen. I processed it in Lightroom then pulled it into Photoshop to remove some branches. I sharpened it a bit with Topaz Sharpen.
Beautiful little hawk Debbie. Nice composition, colors and nice look from the hawk.
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Congrats on getting the Merlin, especially in the open with such a nice pose. I like the perch and how you’ve gotten the merlin framed by the branches. There seems to be a similar brightness between the sky and merlin and it might be worth playing around with the sky-a little bluer (decrease cyan) and darker to make the merlin stand out more. I like the high pass filter for sharpening and you might give that a try.
I’m working on this, but I don’t have a clue how to get rid of or prevent the halos in lightroom, it just looks worse the more I work on it…
I’m tempted to think the problem is due to topaz. Have you tried a version without it?
You could post an unedited version in jpeg here and see what we think.
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@Allen_Sparks Yes - I guess it could be Topaz…
Thanks for sharing the original Debbie. My first reaction is that the amount of cropping applied would probably cause any software to struggle to produce a quality image especially with lifting the exposure as much as needed. So I can’t say an overuse of sharpening in Topaz would necessarily cause the issues here. I’m wondering for this image if a much looser crop might work to provide a decent view of the bird while maintaining better image quality.
In Photoshop, I tried a looser crop, raised shadows, and applied Smart Sharpen:
I’m not sure how this version would hold up in a full size file but shows another alternative when the subject is at a far distance.
One other note: I noticed this was shot at 485mm while your rig should extend to 560mm.
Just food for thought above…I have zero shots of a merlin so this is a real treat to see.
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@Allen_Sparks That looks really nice! I only got three shots of this guy/girl before it flew, and yes my lens should have been all the way extended…
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