CB Chickadee & RP

Gallery: AvianPosted February 15, 2017889 views16 comments

Several people commented that my Nuthatch photo appeared to be over sharpened. In general, I don't see that comment very often as the only major sharpening I applied to my images is with TK actions at the end of my workflow. Here is another image of a Chestnut Backed Chickadee that seems to be fairly sharp. In general, I apply a little sharpening with Adobe camera raw, some micro-contrast adjustment with Topaz adjust, and finally sharpening with TK actions at 50%. I rarely use any local sharpening and did not with the Nuthatch. No flash with the Nuthatch but the Chestnut backed Chickadee did have fill flash. I include the raw file for comparison. I believe I applied Nik Dfine (Dfine is noise reduction, not sharpening) once with the Nuthatch and twice with the Chestnut backed Chickadee. Any suggestions are always helpful. Thanks in advance.

iso 640, Sigma 150-600 at 480 mm, F9, 1250th, 75% full frame, tripod, -1 EV, -1 2/3 fill flash, Topaz and TK actions,Dfine

Comments

16 comments

Comment posted by David Schoen on February 15, 2017 at 2:33 PM

Here is the raw untouched image

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on February 15, 2017 at 2:47 PM

David, You got an excellent pose here. Great BG, interesting perch with moss.
Large version still seems a bit over-sharpened to me - try only one round of sharpeneing and see what you think.
Let's see others comments too.
REALLY sweet image!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on February 15, 2017 at 3:47 PM

David, I think this image is over sharpened as well. Looking at the raw image, it should require very little sharpening. It is easy to over sharpen trying to pull out as much detail as possible, however, it reaches a point that it does not look natural. It does not appear normal to see every individual feather. Birds are typically soft in nature. Over sharpening gives them a hard appearance. Unfortunately there really is no set rule that will work on every image, even some species require more or less. I personally do not like working with an image that requires anything more than one round of sharpening in photoshop. I see no real benefit to using another piece of software for sharpening. I pass on a lot of images and just try to work harder to get it sharp in camera. The raw version of this image is very sharp and one round of moderate sharpening should do the trick. I hope this helps.

Registered on February 6, 2008, 168 Posts, 3118 Comments

Comment posted by John Robinson on February 15, 2017 at 4:39 PM

David
I reckon one round maybe. Somewhere between the two.
Perrsonally I don't mind the first one but that's just me.
Grand looking bird whatever.
Cheers
John

Registered on March 2, 2008, 535 Posts, 2453 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on February 15, 2017 at 4:44 PM

I'm not familiar with most of the methods you talk about to adjust your images, David (there are so many available and I just use different ones). However, when I first opened this image, it appeared oversharpened to me. The original looks rather good and I don't see where it would need any significant processing. You might want to try eliminating the steps that would affect apparent sharpness one by one, to see where it's coming from. While chickadees do have relatively coarse plumage, the posted image makes it look excessively so to my eyes. Other than that it's a really nice image.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by David Schoen on February 15, 2017 at 5:04 PM

Here is a repost with no sharpening at all other than Adobe Camera raw.
So the only difference between this and the original post is the application of the TK sharpening action at 50% as a final step before conversion to jpeg at 1200 pixels width.

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on February 15, 2017 at 5:05 PM

This looks great, David. No nits from me! I like the lighting. devil

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on February 15, 2017 at 5:22 PM

I think your original post was slightly over sharpened David and the repost looks sharp enough and very natural. After looking very carefully at the large image, a lot of the over sharpening I see is in the perch and the moss and that makes it look kind of of unnatural. Great pose and cute bird.

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on February 15, 2017 at 6:13 PM

Interesting comments, I do agree that the first looks over sharpened, and the last one looks just fine to me. Good detail, colors and pose. thanks for sharing. Good to see all the comments also.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Matt Shellenberg on February 15, 2017 at 7:02 PM

The repost looks awesome, David.

Registered on February 6, 2008, 168 Posts, 3118 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Gavin on February 16, 2017 at 1:54 AM

What a fine photo regardless of which version is viewed. While the first looks only slightly over sharp, I don't know if it really is. My monitor is a bit off. I like the cropping off the bottom of the original resulting in the others. Have you printed from each of these versions? Any indication of over sharpening?

Registered on August 14, 2008, 293 Posts, 1250 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on February 16, 2017 at 10:11 AM

Hey David,
I'm not sure what's going on here and I apologize for not having the time to read thru all the comments so far but I will say:
The original post of this image looks damn near perfect to me and is an excellent image indeed. laugh

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on February 16, 2017 at 6:21 PM

The repost looks fine to me, David. It looks like you need to tread lightly with Tony's sharpening action.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on February 16, 2017 at 9:40 PM

I think the sharpening looks reasonable on this David, the last repost looks best to me not in terms of sharpening but in terms of color and contrast. It seems like your original post with the TK sharpening has a greyer cheek rather than a whiter cheek as the raw file and subsequent post have. I don't know why there would be a difference if that was the only adjustment you made. devil

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

Comment posted by Gary Minish on February 17, 2017 at 2:52 AM

An excellent shot of this little Chickadee, David! Exposure and focus are perfect and I love the complimentary colors in the background. As for the sharpening issue, I would recommend not sharpening the raw file first if you're going to use Topaz Adjust micro contrast. The micro contrast amplifies small details so when you sharpen before applying it, the exaggerated edges from the sharpening become even more exaggerated from the micro contrast. I think if you apply the micro contrast first, in the full size version and then only sharpen AFTER you downsize for the post, it will look more natural and still be very sharp.

Registered on February 4, 2006, 625 Posts, 3583 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on February 17, 2017 at 11:29 AM

The last repost looks great to me. I think when am image is that detailed to begin with you don't need to add much detail.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments