D500, 500 f4 vr post proccessing

[tommiejeep]

Trying to work out the PP with the D500 in CC2015 (have not up-graded to 2017 yet).   I've been shooting mostly from tripod with w200 (loose) and shooting many Kingfishers.  Most other birds are at distance.   Recently tried with TC1.4 .  Still having problems shooting the combo handheld so will stick to the 300 2.8vr for BIF.   Obviously some are over sharpened and some have no sharp applied.  Still working out using Clarity ( in camera NEF) and PP relate to sharpening. Playing with camera flat and camera neutral with contrast in Nik.

[MFloyd]

Outstanding pictures. What do you want more ? 😊  It is not clear to me what you meant: if you are shooting NEF, all your settings are lost, except WB, long exposure noise, and Active D-Lighting.

[bobfriedman]

look great to me... nice captures.

[Akira]

I cannot find anything to complain.  All are fascinating depiction of the liveliness of this little loveable bird.

[tommiejeep]

Thanks all, I was trying to exercise some control with my shutter speeds vs ISO so have a ton of fun images with all levels of motion blur.
MF,  I am not sure about the Clarity being zeroed out in NEF but you are probably right.

This one is a redo using Flat Profile in CC2015 with very slight sharp added and Nik Contrast,   I've culled two days of Kingfishers down to about 600 images to play with.

 

[Andrea B.]

Beautiful work.

The second kingfisher in flight lacks the contrast which brings out the eye and head feathers. So I like the first version best.

The 2nd image (bird holding fish) is simply stellar!

[Akira]

The second kingfisher in flight lacks the contrast which brings out the eye and head feathers. So I like the first version best.

I would second Andrea.  The original image is superior in terms of the brilliant color and the "perceived" sharpness.

[Anthony]

Tommie, whatever you are doing, you are doing it right.  These are super photos.

[gryphon1911]

For me, whatever processing you did in the original post, image 2, I like.  I've never had the chance to use the 500/4 VR, but can imagine it is pretty darn sharp from the get go.

[armando_m]

Beautiful little birds, great job capturing them, and have fun with the processing

[Peter Connan]

Wow. Just wow!