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Author Topic: Eagle in flight  (Read 2037 times)

KatManDEW

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Eagle in flight
« on: February 20, 2015, 10:06:15 pm »

I love good landscapes, but I don't spend enough time at it and mine can't compare with the excellent landscape photos here. So here's my first opportunity for some BIF with my 7D2 a couple weeks ago. The low angle winter sun, reflecting off the snow was nice.
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Arlen

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2015, 11:33:17 pm »

You're right about that light, it is superb. Beautiful bird with lots of detail.

The only small nit I can see is that there appear to be some sharpening halos along the high-contrast edges, but that's something you should be able to remedy.
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KatManDEW

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2015, 11:44:43 pm »

You're right about that light, it is superb. Beautiful bird with lots of detail.

The only small nit I can see is that there appear to be some sharpening halos along the high-contrast edges, but that's something you should be able to remedy.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll check that out.
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stamper

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2015, 07:02:06 am »

A very nice image. I like the processing and I don't think the halos are apparent form arms length away.

Chris Calohan

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #4 on: February 21, 2015, 08:03:26 am »

Add a mask to your sharpening layer and use a 50% black brush, soft edge. Cleans halos right up.
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Bob_B

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #5 on: February 21, 2015, 09:01:42 am »

Add a mask to your sharpening layer and use a 50% black brush, soft edge. Cleans halos right up.

Interesting technique, Chris, but I'm not sure I follow your steps. Could you elaborate, perhaps in a separate thread so as not to take anything away from the OP and this beautiful photo?
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luxborealis

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2015, 09:34:19 am »

A classic!
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KatManDEW

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #7 on: February 21, 2015, 09:40:52 am »

A classic!
I would like to hear the sharpening procedure. I sharpen first in Lightroom, and then again lightly in Photoshop after cropping and resizing. I should've selected the blue sky and then selected the inverse, to sharpen only the bird, but I was too lazy.

I would also be interested to hear if anyone thinks the white head is still too light. I have trouble with whites, like white birds and such, so I would appreciate any tips on that topic as well.
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luxborealis

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #8 on: February 21, 2015, 09:57:01 am »

I would like to hear the sharpening procedure. I sharpen first in Lightroom, and then again lightly in Photoshop after cropping and resizing. I should've selected the blue sky and then selected the inverse, to sharpen only the bird, but I was too lazy.

I would also be interested to hear if anyone thinks the white head is still too light. I have trouble with whites, like white birds and such, so I would appreciate any tips on that topic as well.

I can't understand why you would need to go into PS for what you've done with sharpening when it can all be done in LR. I'm not doubting there are times when PS sharpening might be helpful, but this isn't a complicated photo for sharpening. Seems, to me anyway, to an unnecessary step, especially for a forum JPEG.
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #9 on: February 21, 2015, 10:08:40 am »

The white head looks just right on my screen. Nice shot.
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KatManDEW

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #10 on: February 21, 2015, 04:52:34 pm »

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. What Lightroom sharpening setting do you recommend for shots like that?

Here's another shot from the same flight. Do the halos look as bad?
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Arlen

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #11 on: February 21, 2015, 05:35:12 pm »

Kat, just to be clear, you should give 99% weight to the first two sentences of my comments above -- they are indeed my overwhelmingly main message to you. I didn't even notice the halos at first, and thought that maybe you didn't either (I miss them sometimes in my own work.) The rendering of the bird is beautiful and a pleasure to view, which counts far more than anything else.
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KatManDEW

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #12 on: February 21, 2015, 06:56:25 pm »

Kat, just to be clear, you should give 99% weight to the first two sentences of my comments above -- they are indeed my overwhelmingly main message to you. I didn't even notice the halos at first, and thought that maybe you didn't either (I miss them sometimes in my own work.) The rendering of the bird is beautiful and a pleasure to view, which counts far more than anything else.

Thanks Arlen. I do want to learn, and I would be very interested to hear what Lightroom sharpening settings people are using, for the 7D2 and other cameras as well.
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Bob_B

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #13 on: February 22, 2015, 08:18:51 am »

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. What Lightroom sharpening setting do you recommend for shots like that?

Here's another shot from the same flight. Do the halos look as bad?

Another great photo. As far as I am concerned, your processing is great here.
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Arlen

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #14 on: February 22, 2015, 11:00:04 am »

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. What Lightroom sharpening setting do you recommend for shots like that?

Here's another shot from the same flight. Do the halos look as bad?

Another great photo. As far as I am concerned, your processing is great here.

Agreed.

KatManDEW, you may have taken other steps like changing the sharpness settings (e.g., reduced Amount or Detail) in your second image, but I suspect that the reduced saturation of the sky may be a major factor. Increasing saturation, or darkening, of skies often leads to halos along sharp transitions such as mountain ridges, or other objects sharply contrasting with the sky. Playing with the sharpness and/or saturation and luminance settings will often help find an acceptable compromise. If you really need to push the sky luminance or saturation to a point where you can't avoid halos, there are some techniques for minimizing or removing them. For example, I've found the technique described in the article "Sharpening Halos And How To Hide Them" to be useful at times: http://www.dpchallenge.com/tutorial.php?TUTORIAL_ID=80. Others here can probably suggest alternate approaches.
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KatManDEW

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #15 on: February 22, 2015, 11:50:09 am »

Agreed.

KatManDEW, you may have taken other steps like changing the sharpness settings (e.g., reduced Amount or Detail) in your second image, but I suspect that the reduced saturation of the sky may be a major factor. Increasing saturation, or darkening, of skies often leads to halos along sharp transitions such as mountain ridges, or other objects sharply contrasting with the sky. Playing with the sharpness and/or saturation and luminance settings will often help find an acceptable compromise. If you really need to push the sky luminance or saturation to a point where you can't avoid halos, there are some techniques for minimizing or removing them. For example, I've found the technique described in the article "Sharpening Halos And How To Hide Them" to be useful at times: http://www.dpchallenge.com/tutorial.php?TUTORIAL_ID=80. Others here can probably suggest alternate approaches.

Thanks for the info! I will check that out.

The second image I posted was actually the first image in the sequence (I got over 20 shots as the Eagle flew by), and in the first image from the sequence (the second that I posted) the sky was hazy. The entire sequence covered about a 180 degree pan, and the sky was totally blue by the time the Eagle was directly in front of me. And yes, I was stumbling around the tripod legs as I followed the Eagle flying by  :)
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Paulo Bizarro

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #16 on: February 23, 2015, 03:48:14 am »

In #1, the bird looks like it was "pasted" on top of the blue sky, meaning the halos are noticeable. It's a beautiful shot though.

spidermike

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Re: Eagle in flight
« Reply #17 on: February 23, 2015, 07:00:14 am »

Increasing saturation, or darkening, of skies often leads to halos along sharp transitions such as mountain ridges, or other objects sharply contrasting with the sky. Playing with the sharpness and/or saturation and luminance settings will often help find an acceptable compromise. If you really need to push the sky luminance or saturation to a point where you can't avoid halos, there are some techniques for minimizing or removing them. For example, I've found the technique described in the article "Sharpening Halos And How To Hide Them" to be useful at times: http://www.dpchallenge.com/tutorial.php?TUTORIAL_ID=80. Others here can probably suggest alternate approaches.

I was about to post exactly the same suggestino re halos as it was something I stumbled across myself just recently. Thanks for the link, Arlen, I will check it out.
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