Chaffinch

[Iain Barker]

Finally an image that is almost FF even if the iso is higher than I would have like.
I have never really had an image of a Chaffinch I have been happy with as they always seem to be at some strange angle or behind a branch.

Nikon D7000 300mm f4 AF. 1/500 sec f5.6 iso 1600.
WB, slight crop, levels and sharpened in Lightroom.

All C&C welcome good or bad. Thanks for looking.

 

[Raymond Lee]

Great capture Iain! Good details at such high ISO. Great HA! I think it's a bit dark on my screen. I could see a version with less room at the top and a bit more at the bottom. There's also chromatic aberration on the branch.

 

[David Kenny]

Nice one Iain. I like the perch leading through the frame. It does seem like there is too much room above the bird.

 

[Arthur Morris]

• Adobe Photoshop CS6 Windows

Yes to overall dark and a bit muddy. Curves (see the next pane) and a 25% layer of NIK 50/50 for the repost and a bit of clean-up.

 

[Arthur Morris]

• Flash fired
• Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Windows)

I realize that in lightening the image that the bird has gone a bit too yellow. IAC, here is the Curves Adjustment.

 

[Iain Barker]

Thanks for the repost Arite, I will have a look at lightening it from the RAW and check for a Yellow cast.

Raymond I normally check for CA, as I do get problems at extreme contrast with my lens when used with my convertor, but forgot to check on this one. I will also look to see if the crop can be improved as I did crop a little off the bottom.

I will try and repost later today.

 

[Arthur Morris]

YAW and good plan on a bit more on the bottom.

 

[Arthur Morris]

• Adobe Photoshop CS6 Windows

Though I am not very familiar with this species, I think this re-post is closer to the correct color. Did it with various Hue/Saturation adjustments... And sharpened and lightened the face....

 

[Arthur Morris]

ps: me thinks now that the original post had a green color cast....

 

[keith mitchell]

Hi Iain, this is interesting, I think Arthurs post improves the sharpness and clarity but I do think your original post is nearer the colour that I would expect from a male Chaffinch at this time of the year, will follow your post.
Keith.

 

[Iain Barker]

Artie, I agree with Keith here your repost is much better then my OP overall but the colour is slightly out somewhere. Mostly the area around the eye and the coloured band on the wing look a bit red/pink the coloured wing band should be more of a yellow. The other colours look about right.
I've not had chance to get back to my computer with the image on yet but will see if I can get anywhere near your result.

 

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, I agree with Keith here your repost is much better then my OP overall but the colour is slightly out somewhere. Mostly the area around the eye and the coloured band on the wing look a bit red/pink the coloured wing band should be more of a yellow. The other colours look about right.
I've not had chance to get back to my computer with the image on yet but will see if I can get anywhere near your result.

I've only seen the bird once in life, I think, on my recent trip to Japan

 

[Diane Miller]

When a Levels or Curves adjustment layer is meant to do a tonal correction but it introduces an unwanted color cast, go to the color channels for that adjustment (in the UL in PS) and make individual tweaks there, or just try putting the layer in Luminosity mode. But that often leaves saturation underdone.

 

[Randall Farhy]

• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Windows)

• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (Windows)

Took a stab using the OP for starting point. LR5 adjustments:


Exposure: -12
Highlight: - 17
Shadow: +40
Whites: -5

HSL:
Hue: Orange +7 Yellow +4
Luminance: Orange +9

Removed C/A and Defringed.

Local brush to sharpen head and linear feathers. Local brush to adjust eye using shadow and clarity. Output sharpen on low.

Guessed on color as I've never seen one.

Edit-Went back and did a W/B adjustment: Temp -4 (-yellow) tint +10 (+red)

 

[keith mitchell]

Iain Randall's repost looks about right to me, look forward to seeing what others think.

Keith.

 

[Iain Barker]

• Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows

Thanks Artie and Randall for you help and reposts and to Keith for your comments as well. Artie I understand it is difficult to get the correct colour when you don't know the bird. Your corrections have helped me greatly though.
For my repost I went back to the RAW in lightroom and adjusted crop and then the white balance using the dropper which I think was adding the cast. I then adjusted the curves and went to Photoshop for some noise and sharpening adjustments. I did struggle a bit with the CA as removing the red added cyan. I manged to get rid of most of it in Photoshop. This was then saved and exported from lightroom and a little more sharpening was applied to the exported jpg.

I think it is an improvment on my OP. Please let me know what you think.

 

[keith mitchell]

Iain sounds like a long hard road but I recon you got there in the end,I know it's been a bit selfish but I'm sure like yourself I have learned a lot from following this, great improved image.
Keith.

 

[Randall Farhy]

Iain, it is a big improvement over your OP. It takes a while to get the hang of it (I'm still learning from each post as well). The shadow's are a little dark-note upper wing and eye area. There also appears to be a fairly strong magenta overtone-Where did you use the dropper to obtain W/B? My suggestion would be a neutral gray spot on the bird then adjust to taste, I went with the upper region on the neck. (I usually scan the area selected and choose a square which is already close to neutral for the start point as adjustments can vary widely.)

Try -1 yellow (Temp) and -6 Red (tint) +25 shadow and -22 highlights and -2 white as those are still a little hot. This will show the green and purple fringing on the bottom of the stick but the bird will show improvement imo. (don't worry over the fringing, once you upgrade LR you can go back and fix it).

 

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Artie and Randall for you help and reposts and to Keith for your comments as well. Artie I understand it is difficult to get the correct colour when you don't know the bird. Your corrections have helped me greatly though.
For my repost I went back to the RAW in lightroom and adjusted crop and then the white balance using the dropper which I think was adding the cast. I then adjusted the curves and went to Photoshop for some noise and sharpening adjustments. I did struggle a bit with the CA as removing the red added cyan. I manged to get rid of most of it in Photoshop. This was then saved and exported from lightroom and a little more sharpening was applied to the exported jpg.

I think it is an improvment on my OP. Please let me know what you think.

Yes to a huge improvement and YAW. I am not seeing a Magenta cast but do feel that the eye and face need a bit more work as noted by Randall.

 

[Randall Farhy]

Thanks Artie, color shift might ne my monitor. How do you go about getting a screen capture of the Photoshop/LR5 workspace and posting it as an image? Would save a lot of typing!