Crows for C&C

[epmi314]

Let me know what you think of this shot....

[Boatman]

Very nice. Well balanced, interesting and good tonal range.

[MiniChris]

Crows look a tad oversharpened (they have significant halos around them). I'd cut off the rail post as it doesn't do anything for either the impact of the story or the framing. Just noticed you saved this as a grayscale image. It is really best to leave all B&W's in RGB for the best tonal range.

[jambin]

I agree the crop works much better.

[Donald]

I think you guys have already sorted this one out. I agree that the crop works much better.

[epmi314]

Thanks Gents! I agree with the crop and I do over sharpen.

[FrankMi]

Thanks Gents! I agree with the crop and I do over sharpen.

Hi Scott, I've had the same issues with sharpening and have found the following guidelines to be helpful as a starting point.

Unsharp Mask Starter Settings:
Capture Sharpening – Amount, 300%; Radius, 0.3 pixels; Threshold, 0
Artistic (or Creative) Sharpening – Amount, 40%, Radius, 4 pixels, Threshold, 0
Output Sharpening – Amount, 50-120%; Radius, 0.3 pixels; Threshold, usually less than 3 but not over 9

I say as a starting point because a lot depends on variables like image resolution and detail. When I look at the preview, if I see any halos, typically at the border of high contrast areas, I back off the Radius until the halos go away. You will also want to look for any noise increase that is objectionable. It is better to use less sharpening than to make image sharpening noticeable.

There are a number of techniques available to sharpen images. These settings are just for using the basic Unsharp Mask. I hope this helps!

[epmi314]

Thanks a bunch Frank your post is very imformational. It's good to have a baseline to start with as I have tendency to just fiddle with the images. I completely missed the halos which would have been an obvious indication of a PP issue.

[Dave Humphries]

~ and I do over sharpen.

Stop it !!!!!!!

[JK6065]

Am I the only one who prefers this photograph without the crop? I like the post as a counterpart for the crows. It balances the composition. In the crop version the position of the crows looks odd.
Though maybe you could darken the post a bit to get some of the attention off it.

[Dave Humphries]

Am I the only one who prefers this photograph without the crop? I like the post as a counterpart for the crows. It balances the composition. In the crop version the position of the crows looks odd.
Though maybe you could darken the post a bit to get some of the attention off it.

No, I tend to agree with you Jeroen.

If it was a shot of crows it should have been much tighter on them.

... but if the thread had been titled "Two crows on a fence" everyone would have been happy

[Dizzy]

Scott, other than the slight over sharpening (which you have already been soundly
thrashed for..), I honestly preferred it in the uncropped version.

In my experience unless crows are sleeping, they are undoubtedly involved in one of
two endeavors:

A) They are messing about with something they shouldn't be (ie: eating the farmers
corn, harassing other critters, chasing hawks around the sky, etc.)

B) They are getting ready to mess about with something they shouldn't be.

Those two you captured are clearly involved in some level of collusion, planning their
next mischievous foray ....they even look guilty..

[GeorgeM]

@Frank

Thanks for the sharpening info!!!

As for the picture, I vote for the uncropped version

[jamn4ex]

I love crow shots. I see them as wise old birds. LIke most people envision owls I suspect. Heres one I took 2 days ago. thought I would share it.