The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Last night I drove through the Skagit River Delta area looking for a field of snow geese, but they were well hidden. Shortly before sunset I came across a field of marsh grass with several photographers with long lenses along the road. I stopped to take a look and saw several birds hunting for their dinner. This female Northern Harrier (?) was fun to watch as she hunted.
Specific Feedback
I’m new to avian photography and have a lot to learn. I think the background works, and she is decent focus. Is there anything in the capture process that could have made this better? Post processing of birds is very new to me so any suggestions would be helpful. I explain my processing steps below.
Technical Details
Gear and settings:
Nikon D850, ISO 1600, Sigma 150-600 at 600mm, f6.3, 1/3200 sec. handheld
Post processing:
I started with DXO PureRaw 3, then changed the profile to Tony Kuyper’s linear profile for the D850. Minor exposure processing for the entire image, a mask of the bird to add exposure and detail, and a radial mask to brighten and add saturation to the eye. Also used Topaz Sharpen AI.
Hi Steve, there are lots to like about this image. Though somewhat small in the frame (which is fine), the subject is well placed giving us a view of the hunting territory and idea of habitat. There is plenty of space for the bird to move into. Exposure on the bird looks fine which can be a challenge on white birds in sun. Your settings look good to capture a bird in flight (plenty fast enough shutter speed). And it is good to see the shadows are not blocked as well. I do wonder how large a crop this is as the bird’s plumage looks a little soft to me in the largest version. This is still a fine keeper of an image.
I cannot comment in great detail on your post processing as I don’t use Tony Kuyper’s profiles or Topaz Sharpen AI. I do use DXO Pure Raw 3 and am quite pleased with it as a beginning Raw converter. The eye does look nice and bright.
The background works well: it shows off the harrier, but still an identifiable habitat, typical of a harrier’s hunting ground. Great that you were able to photograph the harrier coming at you and I like the angle of the harrier, as if it has seen something and is coming in for the kill. I think this is a male, given the coloration.
Hi Steve, as @Allen_Brooks said, I think this is a male Northern Harrier. They’re far more colorful than the females.
I love the soft/blurred background. Nice work on the processing too. I use DXO PhotoLab for my preprocessor…much like PureRaw, just with a little more control over the noise reduction and sharpness.
Thank you @Allen_Sparks, @Allen_Brooks and @David_Bostock for your comments! Allen Sparks, this is a crop and is about 1/3 of the original photo. Allen Brooks and David Bostock, you guys are right. I got the sexes backwards. I have a couple images of females I prepped at the same time and got the labels backwards, supporting my beginner status.
I sure do love me some grey ghosts. Yep, the male harrier has those bright yellow eyes and the grey/black feathers compared to the females brown plumage and brown eyes. For every male harrier I see I can probably count 50 females. Not sure why that is but female harriers are far more common where I live. Good of you catch a male. The background is typical for their hunting grounds, the bird is flying towards you a little bit so you got a good angle, and it’s reasonable sharp. There are two things I find distracting in this image and that is the dark band running across the top of the frame could be cropped out and also that dark band running underneath the bird. Nothing you could do to not include those and usually I wouldn’t even see something like that until I looked in the monitor. Other than that I think you have a fine male harrier image to be proud of, Steve.
Excellent image of this Harrier Steve. They’re not an easy bird to catch in flight (at least for me). I like the loose frame and the angle of the bird. The only suggestion I might make is to boost the micro-contrast on the bird a bit. I’m not sure what the current offerings are in software to do that-I still use an old pre-AI Topaz plug-in called Detail3. I think you might still be able to download it from their website.
@David_Haynes and @Dennis_Plank, thank you for your comments and suggestions! I added a new version at the top after cropping a bit to remove the 2 dark bands and add a little micro-contrast to the bird. Does this work better?
I like the repost, Steve. The slightly tighter crop still leaves plenty of room while adding some oomph to the bird. The micro-contrast boost seems to make the bird a bit sharper looking as well.
Hi Steve
I have never used Tony Kuyper’s linear profile, so I can’t comment on your processing. The version of DXO Pre Raw I have is packaged into DXO photo Lab 6. I prefer the more open posting, as it give me a sense of the Harrer’s direction, nice work.
Peter
