The Catch

[ArthurDent]

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this image.
Nikon D500, 300mm f/4 PF ED VR at f/6.3, 1/3200 sec., ISO 460.
A little too dark at -0.30 stops?

[Anthony]

Excellent timing, great wing positions.

The exposure has captured a lot of detail on the underbody of the bird.  However, other parts of the bird and the fish would benefit from being brighter.

My main issue is that the background is rather distracting - tricky to de-emphasise this, but worth the effort, I think.

[Seapy]

Part of the problem is that the bird has by evolution evolved to be less visible, the Osprey themselves are vulnerable to attack, especially when returning with a catch.

I did dabble with this image, it responds to some adjustment in levels and contrast, followed by the ACR 'auto' with minor adjustments to brightness and contrast but it will be a challenge to make the bird really stand out, because it wasn't intended to.

Perhaps cropping tighter, toning down and blurring the sea froth a little?  To me the image needs the froth, it adds drama and life to the image, take that away and the image is lost but you, we want so see the Osprey in all it's splendour.

I haven't tried it, but 'Detail Extractor' in NIK filters might just do the trick.  Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

[ArthurDent]

Thank you for your comments. If you have a moment, please take a look at the image I posted in the flora, fauna and landscape sub-forum. It is just a few frames later, so was taken under roughly the same conditions. It is 0.6 stops brighter, IIRC, and I think does a better job of making the bird pop. The thread is “A Fishing Trip of a Different Kind.”

Seapy, I downloaded the Nik collection when it was free, but I don’t recall seeing the detail extractor. Which module is it in?
Thanks,
AD

[Seapy]

Hi Arthur, Colour EFX Pro4

I just grabbed a handy snapshot of my kids a few years ago.

It can be way too drastic but by gentle application with the selective tool it can transform a difficult, ill defined image into something special.

Am busy right now but later I will have a go at your image if you don't mind?

I have admired the shot in your other thread, it's another case of getting it right at capture.  There are so many variables with the birding game, it's a very skilled operation getting a really good action shot if large birds in action,  I have a friend who spent a full day in a hide trying for a good Kingfisher shot, he got one!

We have Ospreys near here, I know where the nest is, inaccessible, I have a rough idea where they hunt but it would need days of patient watching with glasses to home in on them.  They are lifting flat fish, probably Flooks Maybe even the odd Salmon, Bass or Sea Trout, from Morecambe Bay and a nearby RSPB Bird sanctuary, Leighton Moss.

I may have time in a couple of weeks but they may have returned to Africa by then.

[ArthurDent]

Hi Arthur, Colour EFX Pro4

I just grabbed a handy snapshot of my kids a few years ago.

It can be way too drastic but by gentle application with the selective tool it can transform a difficult, ill defined image into something special.

Am busy right now but later I will have a go at your image if you don't mind?

I have admired the shot in your other thread, it's another case of getting it right at capture.  There are so many variables with the birding game, it's a very skilled operation getting a really good action shot if large birds in action,  I have a friend who spent a full day in a hide trying for a good Kingfisher shot, he got one!

We have Ospreys near here, I know where the nest is, inaccessible, I have a rough idea where they hunt but it would need days of patient watching with glasses to home in on them.  They are lifting flat fish, probably Flooks Maybe even the odd Salmon, Bass or Sea Trout, from Morecambe Bay and a nearby RSPB Bird sanctuary, Leighton Moss.

I may have time in a couple of weeks but they may have returned to Africa by then.

Seapy-Please have at it! And, thanks in advance for giving it a try. This was my fourth trip to the ospreys’ lair, so I’ve pretty well homed in on the settings to use. Hopefully, that knowledge will carry over to other shoots. The image I posted here is 0.3 EV lower than the original capture. The other image is 0.75 EV higher. I like the 0.75 EV higher exposure, but at my next opportunity, I’ll try the original exposure and Detail Extractor to see how that works. Thanks for the tip!

[ArthurDent]

Seapy-If you’d like to make the short jaunt across the Atlantic to Florida, I can put you onto enough ospreys to more than fill all your memory cards with images. If you decide to do that, you probably shouldn’t delay.  Your remark on your local pair heading off to Africa caused me to research the migratory habits of our local birds, and I found they are not “local” at all, migrating down to South America every fall. See this:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/backpacking-ospreys-following-their-migration/

So, it would be now, or some future summer if you wanted to do it. No telling when they might take off en masse, but based on the reference, September 1 is probably a good cutoff date. If you decide to come over, I’ll take some time off and we can hit all my favorite spots while you are here.

[ArthurDent]

More info on N. American osprey migration here:
https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/osprey/distribution

[Seapy]

OK Arthur,  I have had a play...

First, for comparison, the 'As Shot' image, jpeg as dragged off the forum page:

Am trying to avoid putting your images on my Flicker site... I can't mix text and images.    Will post the images this order: 1) as shot, 2) after processing in Lightroom, 3) after Lr and NIK, 4) a screenshot of the settings in Lr, 5) finally the settings in NIK.

Lightroom did well, I clicked auto, then made several adjustments to the Clarity, Dehaze, Highlights, Shadows and set the WB on the birds head, added 4 points of yellow.

In NIK Detail Extractor I added a little detail to the entire image, then minus detail to the background, moving the minus points about for best effect. You can see the circles of the minus points.

This is hugely subjective, everyone will have their own ideas about how it could look.  I didn't spend too much time with it, not being my image I didn't see the event, nothing to base my ideas on.

[Seapy]

There appears more dark detail after the Detail Extractor process, spending more time with the original NEF rather than a JPEG, which has been through the forum image mangle to 'optimise' it.  I am sure that could be a really nice image.

I was quite impressed how much extra detail Lightroom managed to extract, I just find it harder to manage the localised editing in Lr.

[ArthurDent]

Seapy, Thank you. You’ve showed me a number of new tricks, settings I’ve not tried before, such as auto, adding yellow and setting wb on the bird’s head, will have to read up on all of those. I really appreciate your help.The image looks much better, significantly more detailed and the background is toned down a lot. Thanks again for showing me your edits.

[Seapy]

The auto setting in Lr is a good starting point, rarely it it 'right'!  Particularly it seems to give the D3 between 1/3 and ½ a stop too bright, but for a quick general adjustment it's usually on the money.

I am very cautious with Clarity, usually around 24, max at 27-30 and Dehaze at first I was only going + 5 at most but now I do use it a bit more daringly, after all nothing is going to break, if it's too much next day then I dial it back a bit.

As for visiting Florida... Right now I'm stretched visiting the English Lakes, I have a standing invite to a friend in Spain for which I obtained a passport 7 years ago!  I haven't made it yet... In fact I think he is returning to the UK soon so that's out now.

The migratory behaviour of the Ospreys is very interesting, I followed your links, we have a similar situation here with some birds and Grey Seals, carrying GPS trackers.

[ArthurDent]

Seapy- One more question if you don’t mind? How did you set white balance on the bird’s head?
Thanks,
AD

[Seapy]

Ah! That's easy.

If you look at the Lightroom screenshot above, in the White Balance section there is an eye dropper, click on that and your curser will change, go click on the birds head, or ANY area which you think is colour neutral, as you hover over the image a very enlarged magnified view appears, which enables you to select the exact pixel you want to sample.

This works in any image provided the point you click on isn't blown out (too bright, out of range).  Sometimes you can't find a neutral pixel that was why I added 4 points of yellow to make the image more natural.