Hunting Great Gray

[Paul Kammen]

Was happy to see this guy in Northeastern Minnestoa a couple of weeks ago. They had been seeing a little less regularly as likely they are building nests and focused on that deeper in the woods, but he was out hunting about 7 a.m. Thanks for any feedback.

Canon 7DII, 1/1000sec, f 5.6, ISO 2500, 800mm lens.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Not an easy shot to get I am sure, and an impressive capture - well done.
I get the impression you have applied NR in a patchy fashion and I would suggest 1/1000 sec is borderline having said that the owl is coming to ward you as opposed to travelling laterally.
I would suggest having another look at the raw file and optimising NR there and then using something like Neat Image subsequently if required (using selectively with a mask & brush). I get the impression there is a little more to be had.

[Paul Kammen]

Not an easy shot to get I am sure, and an impressive capture - well done.
I get the impression you have applied NR in a patchy fashion and I would suggest 1/1000 sec is borderline having said that the owl is coming to ward you as opposed to travelling laterally.
I would suggest having another look at the raw file and optimising NR there and then using something like Neat Image subsequently if required (using selectively with a mask & brush). I get the impression there is a little more to be had.

Thanks, I might do that - I ran a filter "Define" on all but the bird, highlighting the owl and inversing it, so the noise reduction would not impact the owl. I've never tried Neat Image - is it better than Define?

[Chris van Rooyen]

Indeed an impressive capture. I agree with Jonathan's comments on the noise reduction. You should be able to remove the noise in the RAW file almost completely with neat Image.

[Paul Kammen]

Indeed an impressive capture. I agree with Jonathan's comments on the noise reduction. You should be able to remove the noise in the RAW file almost completely with neat Image.

Thanks is "neat image" any different than "define?" which is what I currently use? I use Photoshop CC and admittedly am not sure what to do with the noise reduction settings in RAW.

[dankearl]

Nice incoming flight shot... As Jon mentioned I think you could do more with this.

[Isaac Grant]

Paul an incoming Great Gray is about as good as it gets. However you are having many of the same issues here as well. There is a magenta cast to the shot, there are NR issues as mentioned and the background is very distracting. You have been given some slightly confusing info above. What John is saying is to go back to the RAW file and apply more noise reduction to optimize before you convert to a TIFF and import into PS. After you have done all other edits and are ready to apply NR to background then you would use Neat Image. Yes it is different. It is a separate plug in that you have to purchase. Artie and Arash wrote a guide that they sell on it. I use it and love it. It is very different from Dfine but both can work well in many situations. Again Neat Image is not applied to the RAW but to the fully processed TIFF.

Just for fun I messed with your image which is super hard to do with this small file. Reduced the magenta and blues, ran detail extractor on the bird, NR on bird and background and sharpened the bird and then the face again. And obviously coarsely removed the distracting elements in the shot. Of course this is a drastic change but an incoming Great Gray deserves some additional work in ways that other species do not. Not an every day shot and perhaps not in your ethical standards, but just giving another option...

[Paul Kammen]

[QUOTE=Isaac Grant;1208634]Paul an incoming Great Gray is about as good as it gets. However you are having many of the same issues here as well. There is a magenta cast to the shot, there are NR issues as mentioned and the background is very distracting. You have been given some slightly confusing info above. What John is saying is to go back to the RAW file and apply more noise reduction to optimize before you convert to a TIFF and import into PS. After you have done all other edits and are ready to apply NR to background then you would use Neat Image. Yes it is different. It is a separate plug in that you have to purchase. Artie and Arash wrote a guide that they sell on it. I use it and love it. It is very different from Dfine but both can work well in many situations. Again Neat Image is not applied to the RAW but to the fully processed TIFF.

Thannks, a few questions for you - namely I did get neat image so where now can I get the guide or your guide that you wrote for download or purchase? Also should I not mess with the noise reduction in PS Raw at all? There I tend to just do basic level adjustments, and often highlight the eye and bring up exposure a touch.


I'll touch it up some more and I did try Neat Image on another bird and liked how it came out.

[Paul Kammen]

Just for fun I messed with your image which is super hard to do with this small file. Reduced the magenta and blues, ran detail extractor on the bird, NR on bird and background and sharpened the bird and then the face again. And obviously coarsely removed the distracting elements in the shot. Of course this is a drastic change but an incoming Great Gray deserves some additional work in ways that other species do not. Not an every day shot and perhaps not in your ethical standards, but just giving another option...

I do like the edit, any advice on how I can do this in PS? I'm guessing clone stamping?

[Isaac Grant]

you need to get the pro version of neat image. Here is the link:

http://birdsasart-shop.com/the-professional-post-processing-guide-based-on-neatimage-v-7-6/

As for the cloning and stuff it is very complicated and not sure I could actually explain what I did. Best best is lots of trial and error, a combination of cloning, content aware fills, blending at low opacities, etc. Sill you can see what I did and I did not take the time to make it 100% perfect. Good luck.

[Paul Kammen]

Thanks, I got the home version wasn't sure what the difference was...I'll check it out, have enjoyed it so far.

[John Mack]

Looks like the one from your series of shots.