Male Kestrel

[John G]

This is a kestrel that has taken up residence on our land, I have seen it as part of a pair once and have heard the pair communicating regularly, I am yet to capture the second one and see if it is female.
The unusual thing for me is I have known of a regular activity for a few weeks, but was happy to look at them from the home or walk out with a binocular to have a general look around. I was only compelled to go out with the camera on Friday evening after witnessing one on a  tree limb with a mouse grasped in a talon, when observing it through the Bins earlier in the day.
I used the D800E + 500 F4 AIP + TC 16A modified.

[elsa hoffmann]

What luck for you to have one on hand - am I mistaken in thinking the Kestrel is quite "red/saturated"?

[John G]

Hi Elsa
          I like to begin with DxO , I find it has a good spot indicator and removal tool. Something I have been more attentive to since joining NG.
          It also has a very good purple fringe reduction tool.
          I am aware it leans toward a warm image when I use it. I feel that this is a preference of mine maybe as I like the amber tints that are offered from a
          evening light. 
          This image was captured deliberately under exposed by 3 increments in hard midday light. I can offer all metadata if you wish.
           In DxO I usually move the WB to 5500 - 6000/ Tint O  - 7.  Smart Light 60 - 70,  Clearview 60 - 70. Contrast 16 -20 Micro Contrast 8 - 12,
           Sharpnes 200,  Radius 1.3,  Offset 40.
           In Lr5 I usually set Sharpness 40,  Radius 1.3, Detail 30. Maybe a little more spot removal if it shows. I then do Highlights -10/Shadows +10
           Blacks and Whites using the hold down Alt Key and slide to the slightest amount of colour appears in the Black or White background panel.
           In CS6 I use NIK RAW sharpener, set the setting to 65 - 70, then do a image point and circle the subject and set to 80 - 90 and play with opacity slide.
            I then toggle on and off layer to view against background, If all is looking subtle and not harsh I flatten the NIK layer.
           In CS6 I will check the Brightness/Contrast - 6 - +6.  Exposure +/- a smallest increment to suit, whilst viewing histogram.
           Shadow/ Highlight +/-5 maximum   
           I then make a Background Copy 1 and then a Background Copy 2 from Copy 1.
           Copy 2 will have a Highpass filter set to 3 - 3.6 added, then set to overlay. I will toggle on/off and play will the fill and opacity slide to suit me,
           usually 60 - 75 .
           Copy 1 Highpass set to 2 - 2.4, then overlay, toggle on/off.
           Copy 2 will be merged down to Copy 1, then toggle on/off, and fill/opacity sliders will be set to suit usually 75 - 85.
           This is not always my final decision as my darling wife will sometimes tell me I am making it look unnatural so I let her make a call to stop.
           This can also take place at some other stages as well.
            I then do my new learned image resize to 1200W x 800ish and choose bicubic sharper. I then Save for web.
            I would also say that the Highpass sharpening on two layers does seem to add a warmth as well.
            I do use Capture One Pro 9 as a alternative to DxO on occasions.
            I feel I will be adding FastRawViewer as my initial software, to identify the best image to work with in a very rapid workflow.
            This is critique and this is a common method for me so any suggestions are very welcome             

[Birna Rørslett]

Personally I would have paid much less attention to all the post-processing cooking steps and aimed to get the best possible, clean RAW file in the first place. I shudder by the very thought of all the time spent in processing these files .... A good RAW converter should for example be able to pick up the in-camera w/b thus you shouldn't be required to do much, if anything at all, with it. The modern cameras have become very proficient in their auto w/b and I find myself very rarely in need of a post adjustment here.

I would guess that the purple fringing is partly the lens, partly the TC. Stopping down will reduce such issues although they cannot entirely be avoided at the capture stage. As purple frequently isn't very strong nor of much importance in nature shots, a slight reduction of magenta saturation often will suffice to bring these fringes under control. Or use any available tools in your RAW software.

As I'm not much of a bird shooter, I cannot offer any advice as to your subject.

[elsa hoffmann]

John - I lean more towards the colder tones - so the warmer tone is something I would immediately pick up. Some people also dont like my colder tones - so to some extend both of us will get comments on that subject.
If you are aware you lean towards warmer tones- and know the image is more red/orange - and you like it that way - then you have your answer - for yourself. If you were selling the image for a million bucks - you would be more worried about what other people think. I di pay attention to comments - way them up - but still go with what I am comfortable with in the end. I know none of us are ever to old to learn - but also keep true to yourself and what you like.

[ColinM]

Lovely to see this John.
I look forward to more updates as the two of you get to know each other

[John G]

Hi and thank you for your replies.
               
 I have become a little bit of a Post Process nut. Long winters nights with short days leave a hole with hit and miss weather led to a Software selection overload.
 I have pondered for a good while just how much of this post processing work is required, as I have only been a convert for about 2 years having attempted to get the best out of a D80 with no post processing software before this. I would say I could recite the menu.
Photography is a investigative subject, and when results are being created through investigation and actions, you convince yourself you are in the right ball park.
About a year ago I become very conscious of being excessive with the sliders and held off using the saying "less is more".
I then incorporated a few more software programs for the winter and started using these as alternative RAW file openers. I was impressed by the images they offered and started to play. Settling for a little bit of work in a variety of software.
I put my post processing steps out there to angle for a challenge to them, to see if there was a simplified way to be put on the table.
I can now ask the question,  Is there a standard camera body set up that I am missing on the D800E to create the " the best possible clean RAW file ?
                                          What would be the software of choice to do RAW conversion ?
Any answers to the above will allow me to check how I am fitting into a up to date workflow.