Juvenile Delinquent Kea

[Gerald Kelberg]

The title is on the premise that everyone know's how mischievous the New Zealand Kea can be. In fact, prior to my taking this shot, a Kea stole the packaged sandwich from my tray as I sat outside a local cafe about to have lunch! The reputation is real and well deserved!

So this youngster repaid me by posing briefly up on the mountainside. The yellow ring around the eye, the yellow cere and mandible indicate that this Kea is under 2 years old.

Image was made with the Canon 1DX and EF 100-400 Mk II at 214mm. Shutter speed was 1/1000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 1600.

I used LrC and Enhance to process then sized and sharpened in PS.

Comments and suggestions warmly welcomed.

Gerald

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gerald, I much prefer this to the previous one, you can see this beautiful bird in full, set within a nice backdrop. The plumage again is cool, it reminds me of Clapboard.

Techs look OK and you have a lovely bokeh again isolating the subject nicely. No idea if this is a crop, but I think the capture/framing would look better with more below and to the RHS, its all a bit tight, plus there appears to be this blue cast, easily addressed.

Not sure if you do, but export direct from Lr at the desired size ie 1920px, then sharpen or sharpen via the output in Lr. Are you adding any 'pre-sharpening' at the raw stage?

Perhaps look at a lighter backdrop, a bit more 'contrast' in the subject say via a Curves adj via Ps which you can tweak to get the right strength and reduce the blue. If you have not got any more content below or to the right, add it in, very easy again. You could add more sharpening, I think you may be a lille reserved, no problem there, but perhaps go a little further.

TFS
Steve

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for your thoughts - always appreciated! The image is at its full width, cropped top and bottom to my preferred ratio 16:9. Nothing more behind the bird but that can be generated if needed. I have alternative shots with more space behind. Agreed, slight blue cast showing particularly on the rock.

I need to look again at my sharpening routine. Typically I sharpen only once on the final image in PS. I need to find the happy place between sharp enough and over sharpened thus the reserve. I guess I'm not there yet!

I'll look at it again over the weekend and maybe repost.


Thanks again, G.

[Steve Kaluski]

The image is at its full width, cropped top and bottom to my preferred ratio 16:9.

Noted, but having more below would benefit the capture.

Nothing more behind the bird but that can be generated if needed.

I was only referring to the bottom & RHS to generate additional canvas

I need to look again at my sharpening routine.

Gerald if you have the time, if you could just bullet point your steps in sharpening I might be able to add some additional thoughts if you wish. Currently are you running both Lr & Ps with the latest versions?

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gerald ... i do like this image even more than the previous one !!!
Super isolated subject from the very cool BG with the diagonal structure ... the Kea does look so nice with the lovely rendered plumage .
Comp does work well , albeit a touch more to the bottom and top would have not hurt the image .

Personally I would burn the perch ( specially in the lighter areas ) and reduce the blues , to have a more neutral colored rock .

LOvely shots in your archive

TFS Andreas

[Gerald Kelberg]

Thanks Andreas and Steve for the encouragement and the useful comments.

I processed the next image in the sequence as it had more behind and below the Kea. I was a lot more aggressive in sharpening this time - pre-sharpening in LrC and then sharpening the final image with USM in PS. Seems to be more detail without getting into the crunchy, over sharpened look.

I like it; hope you do too!

Regards, Gerald

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gerald, you can only tell at 100%, so will look later. ALL digital files require some for of sharpening period, you just need to be mindful:

Ehnance, will apply some degree of sharpening but we have no idea to what degree
Pre-sharpening again that depends on what the file may need
Output sharpening is perceived sharpening, does it look ‘right’

Each stage may have a knock on effect and there is no silver bullet, as each file should be judged on its on merit IMHO, or it’s perhaps shot in a sequence which is easy to do now with Mirrorless.

[Brian Sump]

Gerald, wow this one is a very nice frame.

You made some beautiful improvements versus the last Gerald.

A nice little pop of tones and color and sharpening looks great. The mottled bkg is great... you could slightly tweak the overall bkg color feel if you wanted to help the subject pop, just an idea (carefully and selectively).

You could also add a little radial gradient around the eye and face to make that pop too.

Interesting it was banded, do you know much about by whom or why?

A slight S curve (for simplicity) could enhance it just a touch but I like this one a lot!!! FWIW, the comp in the repost suits nicely compared to the og.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice indeed, I think the repost looks better in composition and tones/details, the angle of the headshows the eye to great effect.