Show your Bird Portraits

usern4cr

R5
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Sep 2, 2018
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Kentucky, USA
The next day after seeing my first Chaffinch for ages, a second one in a different location, plus a Longtailed Tit. They were close enough to show the detail. I have been trying to photo a Cetti's warbler for years but they are an inconspicuous tiny bird with a marvellous brief song but are usually invisible. Got one this morning far away and backlit, required a lot of processsing but the image means more to me than the other two. (R5/100-500).

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Beautiful blueish-silver color in the chaffinch. Well done!
 
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dcm

Enjoy the gear you have!
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Apr 18, 2013
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Not provoke, that is too confrontational, start a discussion? Yes. What concerns me slightly is the ever increasing seeming requirement for ‘sharpness’ beyond natural levels.

I did not name a photographer and will not, that absolutely was not my point and you know it, my point was much broader.

But it does seem to me this focus on sharpness creates two potential issues, the first is that the subjects cease to look realistic, lets remember the concept of post processing sharpness is all to do with micro contrast levels and the levels seen in a lot of images, not just birding but landscapes, real estate, portraits etc, are no longer ‘natural’. And secondly, people automatically reject otherwise very worthy images because they don’t fit into this current style.

As for the fashion photographer, they must represent the clothes/fashion in a lifelike and realistic way and detail and texture is normally of huge importance.

To me both types of photographer, in ‘representative’ types of images (not artistic interpretations), are looking to achieve the same thing, that is detailed and accurate representations of real world subjects.

I am not picking on bird photographers, I am not questioning the ethics of feeding, cloning out twigs, the general aesthetic of positions or the like, I am making a much broader comment on a current photographic style that is used in some bird photography as well as many other genres. I asked the question here because this is a very well supported area of the site with intelligent and thoughtful contributors.

An interesting discussion that definitely extends beyond birds. On birds there are times that the fine details are the object of the shot and other times when the bird in its environment is more important. I can appreciate both.

Years ago ago when I was still shooting film, my mother-in-law (now 90) told me "No closeups! I don't want my wrinkles to show." Digital gives me more detail, but also makes it easier to remove the detail. I still spend time "softening" her in images, particularly when I shoot the 4 generations with daughter, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters spanning 85 years.
 
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ISv

"The equipment that matters, is you"
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Apr 30, 2017
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Pied Wagtail? Nice pose.
Yes it is! But Corn crake?!!!!!
My question is how much it's cropped? These are hard to approach - very hard! The pose is excellent but it lacks that natural view - and I mean sharpness:)!
Any way - successful photo, exactly because of the difficulty to approach, the pose and the background! With the real sharpness I would say 5+ out of 5!
 
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ISv

"The equipment that matters, is you"
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Apr 30, 2017
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Clearly not the place to ask the question....

Carry on.
Well, here I will post photos from today (I was busy and these were taken in the UH Campus when I finished today). In PL4 the contrast was at 1 (microcontrast - auto - depends on the ISO!). The "total sharpness" was at 0.66 - these are my very standard settings*. And because in some cases the bird's eyes were in very dark: in the "local adjustments" I pushed the "shades" (for the eyes!) a little bit. And since I have no RF5 and I'm in the "local adjustments" already, I add some little sharpens in the eyes!
*- means that sometimes I'm going to 0.50 (like very stable tripod - I mean it stays on very stable ground! The tripod itself is very stable). In this particular case the tripod was not at all balanced neither on stable ground. And pretty good winds - the non-flying birds were somewhat flying:)!

The idea that the feathers are so soft (because we use(d) them for pillows) is kind of anecdotical at least: what kind of feathers exactly? Are all the bird's feathers so soft, and what kind of bird do you mean?
In the photos below the sharpness of the feathers looks pretty much as I saw it TTL.

DSC_5574_DxO.jpgDSC_5730_DxO.jpgDSC_5803_DxO.jpgDSC_5831_DxO.jpgDSC_5840_DxO.jpgDSC_5936_DxO.jpg
Some times, some guys are using to much sharpening, sometimes they use to much contrast and in the worst case - microcontrast. Some (hmm... AI for example) "sharpening" programs are using to much microcontrast (creates a sense for "sharpness" but not a real sharpness) and I definitely don't like them!

And finally - it's a legitimate question and you are very welcome to ask such a questions! Even here:p! What is reasonable is reasonable!!! On other hand - see what was Alan's answer - it makes a lot of sense too!
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
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Aug 16, 2012
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Well, here I will post photos from today (I was busy and these were taken in the UH Campus when I finished today). In PL4 the contrast was at 1 (microcontrast - auto - depends on the ISO!). The "total sharpness" was at 0.66 - these are my very standard settings*. And because in some cases the bird's eyes were in very dark: in the "local adjustments" I pushed the "shades" (for the eyes!) a little bit. And since I have no RF5 and I'm in the "local adjustments" already, I add some little sharpens in the eyes!
*- means that sometimes I'm going to 0.50 (like very stable tripod - I mean it stays on very stable ground! The tripod itself is very stable). In this particular case the tripod was not at all balanced neither on stable ground. And pretty good winds - the non-flying birds were somewhat flying:)!

The idea that the feathers are so soft (because we use(d) them for pillows) is kind of anecdotical at least: what kind of feathers exactly? Are all the bird's feathers so soft, and what kind of bird do you mean?
In the photos below the sharpness of the feathers looks pretty much as I saw it TTL.

View attachment 197050View attachment 197051View attachment 197052View attachment 197053View attachment 197054View attachment 197055
Some times, some guys are using to much sharpening, sometimes they use to much contrast and in the worst case - microcontrast. Some (hmm... AI for example) "sharpening" programs are using to much microcontrast (creates a sense for "sharpness" but not a real sharpness) and I definitely don't like them!

And finally - it's a legitimate question and you are very welcome to ask such a questions! Even here:p! What is reasonable is reasonable!!! On other hand - see what was Alan's answer - it makes a lot of sense too!
I too try to be minimalist. For the best shots where the lighting has been right, which what we aim for, all I do is have PL4 set at its standard settings for sharpening, Prime noise reduction, lens correction and chromatic aberration and all others off. Then I just crop and adjust exposure as I shoot in full manual and guess exposure. That was done for the last post of the Chaffinch, but the Cetti's Warbler needed real work to get it worthy for the "record".
 
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usern4cr

R5
CR Pro
Sep 2, 2018
1,376
2,308
Kentucky, USA
Well, here I will post photos from today (I was busy and these were taken in the UH Campus when I finished today). In PL4 the contrast was at 1 (microcontrast - auto - depends on the ISO!). The "total sharpness" was at 0.66 - these are my very standard settings*. And because in some cases the bird's eyes were in very dark: in the "local adjustments" I pushed the "shades" (for the eyes!) a little bit. And since I have no RF5 and I'm in the "local adjustments" already, I add some little sharpens in the eyes!
*- means that sometimes I'm going to 0.50 (like very stable tripod - I mean it stays on very stable ground! The tripod itself is very stable). In this particular case the tripod was not at all balanced neither on stable ground. And pretty good winds - the non-flying birds were somewhat flying:)!

The idea that the feathers are so soft (because we use(d) them for pillows) is kind of anecdotical at least: what kind of feathers exactly? Are all the bird's feathers so soft, and what kind of bird do you mean?
In the photos below the sharpness of the feathers looks pretty much as I saw it TTL.

View attachment 197050View attachment 197051View attachment 197052View attachment 197053View attachment 197054View attachment 197055
Some times, some guys are using to much sharpening, sometimes they use to much contrast and in the worst case - microcontrast. Some (hmm... AI for example) "sharpening" programs are using to much microcontrast (creates a sense for "sharpness" but not a real sharpness) and I definitely don't like them!

And finally - it's a legitimate question and you are very welcome to ask such a questions! Even here:p! What is reasonable is reasonable!!! On other hand - see what was Alan's answer - it makes a lot of sense too!
That's a beautiful amount of closeup detail with nice blurred background, ISv. Lovely photos!
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
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Aug 16, 2012
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I had a disappointing morning shooting Grey Herons with the R5/100-500. The Grey Herons were against a grey background of water. The eyeAF wouldn't detect the eye or head at distances where it normally would, and spot AF was inaccurate, and very, very few were sharp. The most successful shots were of one flying. Maybe more contrast with background is needed.

309A9538-DxO_Grey_heron_500_ls2cmc.jpg309A9493-DxO_Grey_heron_500_flying_side_on_ls2c_vg.jpg309A9500-DxO_Grey_heron_500_flying_face_on_ls2cmc.jpg
 
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usern4cr

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Sep 2, 2018
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I had a disappointing morning shooting Grey Herons with the R5/100-500. The Grey Herons were against a grey background of water. The eyeAF wouldn't detect the eye or head at distances where it normally would, and spot AF was inaccurate, and very, very few were sharp. The most successful shots were of one flying. Maybe more contrast with background is needed.

View attachment 197069View attachment 197070View attachment 197071
Wow - if that was a "disappointing" morning for you, I'll really enjoy seeing the "exciting" mornings you have to come! (Well done!)

By the way, I often find that the contrast with the background, or the brightness of the background vs subject in (or partially in) shade, to be my main obstacle to a good photo. And I do sometimes find the R5 to have trouble with animal eye (or spot) AF. That's where I'm hoping a future QP AF will fix those issues.
 
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Jul 29, 2012
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This is the last of the photos, (hopefully) good enough to show, for that one Winter day.
(some were shown previously as I considered them for the little show I contributed to, but I include them here for completeness)
(R5 & RF 100-500L)


Beautiful pictures.
d055.gif
I really like your shots.
 
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AlanF

Desperately seeking birds
CR Pro
Aug 16, 2012
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Great shots alan and user4rc. Af is tricky, dunno if i got wrong settings somewhere when locking tracking to head it soon wanders to body.View attachment 197081
It's always nice to see Cranes in Europe. You have the head of the front one nicely in focus. Depth of field is a problem with birds as large as cranes unless they are very far away when using telephotos.
 
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