Mourning Dove

Gallery: AvianPosted November 30, 2009100 views10 comments

Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura): Today there were several of these birds flying about in the bush at the Riverwood Conservancy near Toronto. It was a very cloudy day following several cold, wet, rainy days. Although this is quite a common bird, I thought the very narrow range of colors in this image made it attractive.

Despite that it’s another “high iso” image, this combination of camera settings provided the most attractive image (at least to my eyes!)in these dismal lighting conditions. Now that we have discussed high iso images at length, I ask you to please try to forget that this is a high iso image and judge it as you would judge any image.

All comments and suggestions very welcome. In a few short months your comments and examples have been very educational and helpful.

This image had noise reduction (applied to the whole image) and sharpening (applied to the bird only).

EOS 7D, EF 400mm f/5.6L : ISO 3200, 1/1000 s, f/8.0, image is 4563 x 3042 pixels (=13.9 MP or 77% of full frame for the 7D).

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on November 30, 2009 at 7:55 PM

The bird itself has a nice pose and is sharp, but the background is quite busy. I'm amazed at the lack of noise. I can't shoot above 200 ISO without the picture falling apart. Makes shoot birds a challenge.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on December 1, 2009 at 6:42 AM

Steve,

I love the tones in this image, they feel very soothing to me, I also like the interest the background habitat provides without pulling my eye away from the main subject.

In the larger image I can see evidence of the noise reduction most obvious in the feathers below the wing and on the belly area. If possible to do selective noise reduction I think I would only have done it on the background.

Also, I'd work on the high contrast straight line areas to reduce the zagged effect sharpening produces there.

I like the doves pose, the way it appears to be looking at you with curiousity and the light in the dove's eye.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on December 1, 2009 at 11:39 AM

In light of Lia's comments I thought it would be useful to see a close-up of this image before and after processing. I've selected the areas that Lia mentions. First of all, here is the image before any processing.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on December 1, 2009 at 11:40 AM

Now, here it is after processing.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on December 1, 2009 at 11:56 AM

Oops, I just realized that the "unprocessed" image did have some extra sharpening during export from Lightroom. So, here is the really-truly unprocessed image....

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on December 1, 2009 at 4:41 PM

I really like the color palette as well here Steve, I wish you had left a little more room for the tail. I can't see much if any loss of detail in the feathers from your noise reduction but I'm on a laptop in the airport, so it's not ideal viewing conditions for me... we'll see what others say.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on December 1, 2009 at 5:52 PM

Amazing lack of noise for 3200ISO Steve. I too like the narrow range of colours.

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by David Sparks on December 1, 2009 at 7:22 PM

I'm amazed at the quality of the image given the shooting conditions and the ISO. I like the colors, the pose, especially the head turn and eye contact.

Registered on May 26, 2007, 290 Posts, 4270 Comments

Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on December 2, 2009 at 8:17 AM

the even tones of the bird and bg draw my eye to the bird's eye and blue orbital ring. Comp-wise I agree it would be nice to have a bit more room for the tail. nice shot, Steve, and kudos for getting out and shooting even when conditions are not ideal.

Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on December 2, 2009 at 10:44 PM

Thank you everyone for your friendly assessments. Looks like the quality was generally o.k. except for possibly some trace of processing artifacts evident only to the keenest eyes of you. Several of you recommended more room for the tail of this bird. Unfortunately, the only way I could do that would be to paste more canvas along the bottom. Actually, I was happy that I managed to include the whole tail: the other images in this sequence all had snipped tails! I think I’ll leave this one now and go on to the next. Thanks again everyone!

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments