Sorry, I've been on technical support with Dell & could not get back to you.
On your shots - - look at your horizon line - it looks a tad off.... You may wish to see what it looks like if you try to straighten it a tad. I know our waterways can be confusing on this, but here it's got me kind of surprised... Those poor ducks look kind of surprised.
Also, I really think especially the second shot can stand some noise reduction. It looks very grainy.
Let me know if I can help. Also, not everyone here wants C&C. Most people will ask for C&C if they want it.
Thanks, on the horizon I never even thought about that I'll have to pay more attention to it in the future.
These were only iso 400 but they are 50% crops so I guess thats why the noise is so bad. I have tried to use the noise reduction in Nx2 twice and I can't figure it out. Noise reduction and sharpening are two areas i would like to improve on. I used a little bit of usm on these but when i try to do to much it seems to always make it look worse:dunno:
Are herons not sharp?? This might sound strange but i have been noticing a lot of other people have pics of herons that are not sharp. Now I usually would throw that up to missed focus, slow shutter ect but I have noticed while looking at other pics that people will post all types of birds, fish whatever and they will be razor sharp much better than what I usually get and then in the same series is a heron that is unsharp, is there feather pattern throwing the af off
This is more than likely completely off base but i noticed this today looking at other heron posts :confused:
Good shots to get you starting Problem is they're flying AND they're far off..so it is hard to get the finers details out Maybe w a MKIII + 600 f4 and filling the frame you will see really sharp details even in flight
No, it has to be their feathers making me see what I think is loss of detail in the shots. They all look unsharp to me compared to images I see on here say of Mallards or really most other birds.
On most of the ones i see they look really unsharp around their heads and neck like in your shot #3.
I know my technique lacks a ton and I am working on it, but what got me thinking It was something in their feathers/ the way their feathers are have been all of the great shots I have seen from others and then some "unsharp" herons thrown in the mix.
I agree with all other C & C made by previous posters, I think what you are saying is that there is little feather detail in relation to other birds but it has nothing to do with sharpness issue. A picture that is well focused with a reasonable amount of USM applied on it will be sharp. A sharp picture could and in most cases do lack detail if the lens and camera combanation can NOT resolve the detail that it is not there or it can not be recorded.
Some birds or objects that have uniform colors like GGH will show less detail on feathers becuase it is all grey or the same color and you need contrast between pixels to see the effect. may be someone else can explain it better than me.
In conclusion what you should be saying is that in relation to other birds the GGH photos do not show as much detail instead of saying they are not sharp. Keep in mind no amount of sharpness will produce detail that is not there.
With hope to help you....
Maybe w a MKIII + 600 f4 and filling the frame you will see really sharp details even in flight