Sharpening workflow for Birds?

[StarScapes]

I rarely shoot birds but when I do I usually need to do a heavy crop to get to a 800 pix wide image (I'm not printing so that is fine) because I'm shooting with a lens for landscapes (such as the Sony FE 16-35 on my A7R). If anyone has a workflow to pull the detail from feathers in a 1:1 crop at that size it would be very helpful.

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

I rarely shoot birds but when I do I usually need to do a heavy crop to get to a 800 pix wide image (I'm not printing so that is fine) because I'm shooting with a lens for landscapes (such as the Sony FE 16-35 on my A7R). If anyone has a workflow to pull the detail from feathers in a 1:1 crop at that size it would be very helpful.

Hi,

Topaz Labs Detail will do the job, assuming there is some detail to work with. If you really need to crop down to 800 pixels to see the subject, there may be a bit too little detail to do a really good job, but 'Detail' will allow to enhance whatever is there.

If the image is also blurred, you may need to use a dedicated sharpening tool, like FocusMagic or Topaz Infocus, before you use 'Detail' as well, although 'Detail' has some deconvolution sharpening capabilities built-in.

Cheers,
Bart

[maddogmurph]

For a free option you could consider Jimmy Mcintyre's plugin called "the Easy Panel" - he's got another upgraded one now you can pay for that looks quite useful as well.  Only like $44 compared to Topaz, which is quite costly, but I use "Topaz Clarity" quite frequently.  Also there is a free entry to win the entire Topaz Suite (worth around $500) going on until the end of the month: http://virl.io/wgSHfYyr

[luxborealis]

Good to see a post from you maddog!

[maddogmurph]

Good to see a post from you maddog!

Thanks man, been traveling for 6 months... lots of pictures to come... Processing for the next century is likely.